of India and Pakistan played Ceylon at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in a three-day match. MCC won by 8 wickets. However, the MCC England teams in 1962–63 and 1965–66 played only minor matches when stopping over on their voyages to Australia. The 1965–66 team to Australia was the last to travel there by sea and so the Colombo stopovers ended. In January 1969, the MCC England team visiting Pakistan came to Colombo and played Ceylon in a drawn match. By this time, the standard of cricket in the island had improved considerably and the national team was well on the way towards gaining Test status. After Ceylon became Sri Lanka and MCC stopped organising England tours, the club has only rarely visited the island. There was something of a reunion spirit in 2000–01 when an MCC team arrived for the first time since 1977, but it played no first-class matches. External links CricketArchive – tours and competitions in Ceylon/Sri Lanka Further reading Wisden Cricketers Almanack 2006 English cricket tours of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan cricket seasons from 1880–81 to 1971–72 Ceylon and Sri Lanka