The first Asian Test Championship, organized by the Asian Cricket Council was held between 16 February and 16 March 1999.

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 ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

competed in the tournament; Bangladesh could not compete because the ICC had not granted them

Test status 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 ...

. This tournament was considered to be the predecessor to the Test Cricket World Cup that the ICC was planning for the nine member nations. The tournament was almost canceled in January 1999 due to tour conflicts, television rights and security concerns. Three

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

matches A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

were played with each team meeting each other once and the top two sides playing a final. A win was worth 12 points, a tie 6 points and no points were awarded for a draw or loss. In addition to this, bonus points were awarded to teams for

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

and

batting Batting may refer to: *Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs *Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ru ...

performances (see Scoring system). The venues of the round robin matches were rotated between the three countries: India (

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

), Sri Lanka (

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

) and Pakistan (

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

), while the final was held in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, Bangladesh as a neutral venue. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 175 in the final to become the first Asian Test Champions and received US$250,000 in prize money. Sri Lanka, the losing finalists, were awarded US$145,000, and India, the losers of the first round, US$100,000. 'Man of the Series',

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several criti ...

, won US$20,000, while 'Man of the Match' winners received US$5,000 in prize money.

Squads

Umpires

The matches were officiated by two independent umpires of the ICC panel. This was the first time that this had occurred, traditionally one ICC umpire and one home umpire stand in Test matches. However, one home umpire was selected as the Third Umpire in each Test match. The ICC

Match referee A match referee is an official appointed to oversee professional cricket matches. Match referees for Test matches and One Day Internationals are appointed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Most matches below international level do not ...

for the entire Championship was Cammie Smith of the West Indies. Neutral Umpires: * David Shepherd (England) * Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe) * Doug Cowie (New Zealand) * Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) * David Orchard (South Africa) * Steve Bucknor (West Indies)

Third umpire The third umpire (or TV Umpire) is an off-field umpire used in some cricket matches, particularly international matches. Their role is to make the final decision in questions referred to them by the two on-field umpires or the players. The third ...

s: *

K. T. Francis K. T. Francis, full name Kandiah Thirugnansampandapillai Francis (15 October 1939 – 9 June 2013) was a Sri Lankan cricket umpire. Francis officiated in 25 Tests and 56 One Day Internationals between 1982 and 1999, mostly in his own country. ...

(Sri Lanka) *

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ( (informally Venkat, born 21 April 1945) is an Indian former cricketer. He captained the Indian cricket team at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups, and later became an umpire on the elite International Cri ...

(India) * Saleem Badar (Pakistan)

Scoring system

A scoring system was devised by the Asian Test Championship Technical Committee consisting of Duleep Mendis (tournament director), Ashantha De Mel, Sunil Gavaskar and Majid Khan. It was based on the systems used in the Asian countries'

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

leagues. Bonus points were awarded to teams for good

and

performances (''see table below''). A maximum of 20 points could be gained in one match (including the 12 match winning points). The bonus bowling and batting points were confined to the first 100 overs of the first innings. The two teams with the highest number of points qualify for the final. If two teams are tied on points, the team with a better

run rate In cricket, the run rate (RR), or runs per over (RPO), is the average number of runs a batting side scores per over. It includes all runs made by the batting side in the innings to that point of the game, both the runs scored by the batsmen and ...

in the first 100 overs will go through. If the final ends in a draw, the side with the higher bonus points will win.

Match results

1st Test: India v Pakistan

2nd Test: Sri Lanka v India

3rd Test: Pakistan v Sri Lanka

Final: Pakistan v Sri Lanka

References

External links

Tournament home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asian Test Championship 1998-99 1998-99 International cricket competitions from 1997–98 to 2000 Asian Test Championship, 1998-99 Indian cricket tours of Sri Lanka Pakistani cricket tours of India Sri Lankan cricket tours of Pakistan 1999 in Pakistani cricket