History of cricket in Sri Lanka the All-Ceylon and native Ceylonese teams they played against, but they easily defeated a European team, thus proving that the standard of the Ceylonese players exceeded that of the Europeans. For many years first-class cricket was restricted to games by Ceylon against visiting touring teams, notably the English and Australian teams who used the island as a stopover on the long voyage to each other's country. Douglas Jardine's "bodyline" team was there in 1932–33. The first visit by a New Zealand team was in October 1937 to play a one-day match in Colombo. In the aftermath of World War II,
English cricket team in Australia in 1978–79 English cricket team in Australia in 1978–79 The England cricket team toured Australia in the 1978-79 season to play a six-match Test series against Australia for The Ashes. England won the series 5-1, thereby retaining The Ashes. This series was often over shadowed by Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket which meant many players from both sides were absent, including Greg Chappell. Australia were more handicapped which opened the way for England and their captain Mike Brearley. The side was managed by Doug Insole, Ken Barrington assistant-manager/coach and physiotherapist Bernard Thomas was given credit as the prime reason for England's supreme