Tempers flared in '99

Sri Lanka's players wait while Ranatunga argues

A feigned head-butt, a chucking controversy and a team walking from the field - all of this occurred in a single match when England last took on Sri Lanka in Adelaide.

Four years later, as the teams prepare to meet again at the ground, Alec Stewart described the match as the least favourite in a career spanning two decades.

"It was the least enjoyable game I have played in. Still is," said Stewart, who was England captain for the tour.

"You play cricket because you enjoy the game and you are disappointed and upset when you haven't enjoyed it, win or lose.

"You should always show the game respect."

The way Murali was handled meant the game regressed

Alec Stewart

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had been no-balled for throwing in Australia four years previously, during a Test in Melbourne.

And, when square-leg umpire Ross Emerson called no-ball during the one-day international, captain Arjuna Ranatunga was so incensed that he led the team from the field.

The match was halted for a quarter-of-an-hour while Ranatunga talked on a mobile phone to Sri Lankan cricket board members about the incident.

But when they returned to the field the match deteriorated further.

Murali immediately switched ends and asked Emerson to stand up to the stumps.

Gough and Mahanama almost came to blows

And faulty floodlights smoked to cause further disruption before a number of unsavoury clashes between the players.

Emerson turned down an appeal for a run-out by Stewart against Mahela Jayawardene without consulting the television umpire - replays showed he was out.

Jayawardene went on to make 120 as Sri Lanka made 303 for nine to overhaul England's healthy total.

But it was argy-bargy between the sides rather than the magnificent chase that is remembered.

Roshan Mahanama impeded Darren Gough, attempting to field in his follow-through, and brushed against him again later.

Gough responded by feigning a head-butt.

Stewart was particularly vehement in his after-match criticism, saying: "There were a lot of things happening that I don't ever want to see happen again.

Returning to Adelaide

England: Knight, Stewart, Hussain, Hollioake

Sri Lanka: Jayasuriya, Kaluwitharana, Atapattu, Tillekaratne, Jayawardene, Vaas, Muralitharan

"We were at each other's throats at times."

Since that one-wicket defeat, relations between the two sides have been strained on other occasions, especially when poor umpiring decisions dogged England's 2001 tour.

Eleven players remain from the last Adelaide match in the two squads for England's penultimate round-robin match in the VB Series.

"Since then we have played each other on numerous occasions and I think the relationship between the sides is a pretty good one now and very competitive," Stewart said.

"That day the way Murali was handled meant the game regressed. From that it snow-balled."

There were on-field niggles in Sri Lanka's 31-run win over Nasser Hussain's side in Sydney on Monday, most notably between Ronnie Irani and Kumar Sangakkara.

But Stewart insisted: "You always get that and you can highlight something in every game."