Yet under his watch, the peace was but a surface calm. Dudley tried to implement the essentials of the old Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact to make Tamil an official language alongside Sinhalese and to devolve power to regional councils. Once again, it ran aground on Sinhala Buddhist opposition, inside and outside Parliament, dashing Tamil hopes.

Steven Smith will captain in the two Tests with Pat Cummins remaining at home for the birth of his second child and to manage an ankle injury

Nathan McSweeney has been named in Australia's Test squad for Sri Lanka, while spinners Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy have also been included.