Roy Luke Dias (born 18 October 1952) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played Tests and ODIs for Sri Lanka. An elegant and stylish right-handed batsman he played 20 Test matches and became the first Sri Lankan to hit 1,000 Test runs. He played representative cricket for Sri Lanka from 1979 to 1987 and became the first Sri Lankan test cricketer of any of the three distinct Sri Lankan Tamil groups (Jaffna, eastern and Negombo) in the island.

International career

With his 214 runs in the

1979 ICC Trophy The 1979 ICC Trophy was a limited overs cricket tournament held in England between 22 May and 21 June 1979. It was the inaugural ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 15 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and w ...

he was an integral part of Sri Lanka's tournament victory, as he played four matches with a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 71.33, scoring 214 runs. The victory meant Sri Lanka qualified for the 1979 cricket World Cup, and, surprisingly, Sri Lanka won one match in that tournament as well. Dias made a patient 50 as Sri Lanka made their way to 238 for 5, before bowling

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

out for a meagre 191. Sri Lanka was promoted to Test status three years later, and Dias was picked for the first Test. He had a difficult start, being dismissed for a duck by

Bob Willis Robert George Dylan Willis (born Robert George Willis; 30 May 1949 – 4 December 2019) was an English cricketer, who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler, Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fa ...

as Sri Lanka fell to 11 for 2, but battled better in the second innings against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's spinners

Derek Underwood Derek Leslie Underwood (born 8 June 1945) is an English former international cricketer, and a former President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Through much of his career, Underwood was regarded as one of the best bowlers in Test cricket ...

and

John Emburey John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England. According to cricket writer Colin Bateman, Emburey's participation in two S ...

. He made 77, but when he departed and the third wicket fell, Sri Lanka fell apart from 140 for 3 to 175 all out, and England chased 171 to win with relative ease. Indeed, Sri Lanka's first Test matches were promising, but in the end it often ran away from them at crucial moments. An example of this would be Dias' third Test, which was the second Test of three in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Batting first,

Sidath Wettimuny Sidath Wettimuny is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as an opening batsman from 1982 to 1987. Wettimuny was a typical opening batsman in that he often played very defensively, grafting for his r ...

and Dias added 217 for the second wicket, then a Sri Lankan record

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

for any wicket. That enabled Sri Lanka to be on top, leading by 184 on first innings, but they could not bowl out Pakistan and had to settle for a draw. Sri Lanka went on to lose the series 0–2, despite Dias recording a career best 109 in the Third Test. Dias continued to make big scores, enjoying a personally good tour of

in September 1982, where he made his only two ODI centuries, with scores of 39, 102 and 121 in the three-match series. However, India won the series 3–0 after relatively convincing victories. Sri Lanka also played a Test match, and Dias made two fifties as he and

Duleep Mendis Deshamanya Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis (born 25 August 1952), known as Duleep Mendis, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the team, who captained Sri Lanka to their first Test series victory in 1985. He was primarily a special ...

cooperated to draw the match. At the

1983 Cricket World Cup The 1983 Cricket World Cup (officially the Prudential Cup '83) was the 3rd edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 to 25 June 1983 in England and Wales and was won by India. Eight countries participated in the event. E ...

, Sri Lanka only won one match, and Dias contributed with his only fifty of the series. Pairing up with 80 for the third wicket with

Brendon Kuruppu Don Sardha Brendon Priyantha Kuruppu (born 5 January 1962) is a former Sri Lankan wicket-keeper and opening batsman. He is one of few batsmen in the world to score a double century on debut. Brendon was often played in ODIs, as he played 54 ...

, Dias anchored the chase to 182, ending with 64 not out as Sri Lanka won by three wickets. Sri Lanka continually improved, at least in

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

, but Dias' career went the other way. He made few big scores in Tests, but he made quite a few fifties in losing causes in ODIs. Then, in September 1985,

came to tour – a tour which was Sri Lanka's biggest success to date. In the first Test, Dias made 4 and 0, yet Sri Lanka dominated thanks to centuries from

Ranjan Madugalle Deshabandu Ranjan Senerath Madugalle ( si, රන්ජන් මඩුගල්ල; born 22 April 1959) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who currently serves as the Chief of the panel of ICC match referees. He was educated at Trinity College, ...

and Arjuna Ranatunga – India, however, survived out the five days and the match ended in a draw. However, in the second Test, Dias came in with the score 109 for 2 and made a stroke-filled 95 to lift Sri Lanka to 385. Then, India were bowled out for 244, and trailing by 141, but Dias scored a quick unbeaten 60 as Sri Lanka declared on 206 for 3, setting India 348 in a day. Despite 78 from

Kapil Dev Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj (Pronunciation: əpiːl deːʋ born 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a fast-medium bowler and a hard-hitting middle-order batsman, and was named by '' Wisden'' as the Indian Cricketer of the Cen ...

, India were bowled out by 198, and Sri Lanka recorded their first Test victory. Dias then recorded his third and last Test century in the third Test, as Dias survived for five hours with

to save a draw and a series victory. After this, Dias' career took a turn for the worse. He only passed 50 in Tests once again – in a drawn Test with

were 1096 runs were scored for the fall of only 17 wickets – and poor form saw him being dropped from the ODI side after the first match in the

1987 cricket World Cup The 1987 Cricket World Cup (officially known as the Reliance Cup 1987 for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth Cricket World Cup. It was held from 8 October to 8 November 1987 in India and Pakistan – the first such tournament to be held outside ...

, where he scored 1. He returned for the last match of the

, the team having played and lost four matches without him, and while his teammates failed to pass 40 he recorded 80 in his last international innings. However, the target of 219 was all too small, and Sri Lanka ended up without a single victory in that World Cup.

Coaching career

Roy Dias has served as a coach for the Sri Lanka national cricket team and more recently for the

Nepal national cricket team The Nepal national cricket team ( ne, नेपाल राष्ट्रिय क्रिकेट टीम) nicknamed The Rhinos and Gorkhalis, represents the country of Nepal in International cricket and is governed by the Cricket Ass ...

. The coaching of Dias has been instrumental in the success of the Nepali cricket team in different associate cricket tournaments. Dias also Coached plate winning Sri Lanka U19 team in the 2018 U19 Cricket World Cup. Dias also worked as the coach of

Malaysia national cricket team The Malaysia national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Malaysia in international cricket matches. They have been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1967.

2012.

International centuries

The following tables illustrate a summary of the centuries scored by Roy Dias

Key

Test Centuries

ODI Centuries

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dias, Roy Sri Lankan cricketers 1952 births Living people Alumni of St. Peter's College, Colombo Sri Lankan Chetty sportspeople Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Colombo Cricket Club cricketers Coaches of the Sri Lanka national cricket team Sri Lankan cricket coaches Coaches of the Nepal national cricket team