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,
Australia–England sports rivalries and the ashes sent to Australia"". Later that year, during England's 1882-83 tour of Australia, English captain Ivo Bligh declared he would "recover those ashes" and received a miniature urn which is believed to contain the ashes of a burnt bail. Bodyline was a tactic developed by the English cricket team for the 1932–33 Ashes tour of Australia, specifically to combat the extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Donald Bradman. England's use of a tactic perceived by some as overly aggressive or even unfair ultimately threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries before the situation was calmed. A bodyline delivery was