“Greatest heist since the Great Train Robbery” – this is how Australia skipper Allan Border described their incredible victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test of the 1992 series. Chasing 181 runs in Colombo, the hosts were favourites for most of the time, but Shane Warne’s spin wizardry made the impossible possible for the Kangaroos.
Sri Lanka won the toss and invited Australia to bat first in the opener of a three-match Test series. The Men in Yellow could score only 256 as the right-arm pacer Chandika Hathurusinghe shone with a four-wicket haul. Champaka Ramanayake also contributed with a three-fer. Ian Healy, who scored an unbeaten 66, was the top-scorer for the visitors.
Batting in reply, Arjuna Ranatunga led the team from the front with a scintillating hundred. He smashed 127 off 192 balls with the help of 15 fours and 3 sixes. Asanka Gurusinha and Romesh Kaluwitharana also notched up their respective centuries to help Sri Lanka post a massive 547/8 before declaring.
Shane Warne’s leg-spin did not work well this time as he failed to pick up any wicket. However, Greg Matthews impressed with a three-wicket haul. The Aussie batters responded well in the second innings, scoring 471 on the back of a collective batting effort. Four of their batters registered 50+ scores with David Boon top-scoring with 68 runs.
However, thanks to Sri Lanka’s brilliant first-innings effort, they had only 181 runs to chase down. Openers Roshan Mahanama and Chandika Hathurusinghe provided a solid start with a 76-run partnership. The next two batters, Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva, also looked promising, but after their dismissal, Sri Lanka fell like a pack of cards.
With eight wickets in hand, they needed just 54 runs to win. With the equation then reduced to 30 runs with four wickets in hand, skipper Border threw the ball to Warne. That move, in fact, marked the beginning of Warne’s legendary career as he quickly wrapped up the match by picking up three wickets, helping Australia win by 16 runs.
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