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 the West Indies in 1934–35 of the full strength of England", "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" reported in its 1936 edition coverage of the tour. By contrast, the West Indies side had developed since its disappointing tour of England in 1933. In Martindale, Constantine and Hylton it had a trio of high-class fast bowlers, and Jackie Grant was an experienced captain not given to the eccentricities that the England captain Wyatt inflicted on his team. The team consisted of 14 players, including two wicketkeepers. The party was: Of the 14, only six had appeared in the Test matches against the Australians in the previous English cricket season.