Sri Lanka national cricket team

History

The Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing first-class cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team had achieved associate member status of the International Cricket Council in 1965. Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, the national team first competed in top level international cricket in 1975, when they played against West Indies during 1975 Cricket World Cup; West Indies won the match by 9 wickets at the Old Trafford, Manchester, England.

After Sri Lanka awarded Test status in 21 July 1981 as eighth Test playing nation, they had to wait until 6 September 1985, where Sri Lanka recorded their first Test win by beating India, in the second match of the series by 149 runs at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo. They have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs.

Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Manchester, England, in 16 June 1979. They also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became five times Asian champions in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008 and 2014.

Sri Lanka played their first Twenty20 International (T20I) match at the Rose Bowl, on 15 June 2006, against England, winning the match by 2 runs. In 2014, they won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets.

As of January 2016, Sri Lanka have faced all nine teams in Test cricket, with their most frequent opponent being Pakistan, playing 51 matches against them. Sri Lanka have registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14. In ODI matches, Sri Lanka have played against 17 teams; they have played against India most frequently, with a winning percentage of 39.49 in 149 matches. Within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. The team have competed against 13 countries in T20Is, and have played 15 matches against New Zealand. Sri Lanka have defeated Australia and West Indies 6 occasions each. Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they ranked number one in more than 32 months, and reached World Twenty20 final in three times.

As of 14 January 2017, Sri Lanka have played 256 Test matches; they have won 80 matches, lost 95 matches, and 81 matches were drawn. As of 10 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 787 ODI matches, winning 368 matches and losing 379; they also tied 5 matches, whilst 35 had no result. As of 19 February 2017, Sri Lanka have played 92 T20I matches and won 50 of them; 40 were lost and 1 tied and 1 no result match as well.

Test Cricket

Sri Lanka were awarded Test cricket status in 1981, by the International Cricket Council. They played their first Test match against England at P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo on 17 February 1982. B.Warnapura was the captain for Sri Lanka in that watch, which England was victorious by 7 wickets.

Sri Lanka won its first Test match under the leadership of Duleep Mendis on 11 September 1985 against India, when they beat them by 149 runs at P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1-0. Sri Lanka had to wait for more than 7 years for their next series victory, which came against New Zealand in December 1992. Sri Lanka won the two Test match series 1-0. This was immediately followed by a 1 wicket victory against England in a Test series containing a solitary Test match.

2 years later, on 15 March 1995, Sri Lanka won its first overseas Test match under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga against New Zealand, when they beat them by 241 runs at Napier. This win also resulted in their first overseas Test series victory, 1-0. Their next series too was an overseas series, against Pakistan, and that one too resulted in Sri Lankan victory.

On 11 September 1999, under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka won its first Test match against Australia, when they beat them by 6 wickets at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1-0.

On 14 June 2000, Sri Lanka played their 100th match against Pakistan on 14 June, 2000. They played this match at SSC, Colombo under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya. Pakistan won the watch by 5 wickets.

On 4 August 2016, they played their 250th Test match when they played Australia in Galle. They won the match by 229 runs, and also won the Warne-Muralidharan trophy for the first time since its inception. On 17 August 2016, under the leadership of Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia 3-0 for the first time in Test cricket. With that feat, Sri Lanka whitewashed Zimbabwe 3 times, Bangladesh single time and Australia single time in test cricket.

Governing body

Sri Lanka Cricket (formerly the Board for Cricket Control or BCCSL), is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It operates the Sri Lankan cricket team and first-class cricket within Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Cricket oversees the progress and handling of the major domestic competitions: the First-class tournament Premier Trophy, the List A tournament Premier Limited Overs Tournament and the Twenty20 Tournament. Sri Lanka Cricket also organise and host the Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament, a competition where five teams take part and represent four different provinces of Sri Lanka.

International grounds

Updated 25 March 2017

Team colours

In Test matches, the team wears cricket whites, with an optional sweater or sweater-vest with a dark blue and blue V-neck for use in cold weather, such as Australia, England, and New Zealand tours. The Sri Lankan flag is found in the left side of chest of the jersey and usually the Test cap number can be seen below the flag. The team's official sponsors have been Dilmah Tea since the 1996s until the 2000s. The sponsor's logo displayed on the right side of the chest and sleeve with the Sri Lankan Cricket logo deployed on the left in test cricket. Since 2000 to 2010, the sponsors have been changed from Ceylon Tea, Reebok, Mobitel Sri Lanka and Dialog Axiata.

Sri Lanka's One Day and Twenty 20 kits vary from year to year with the team wearing its bright blue colour in various shades from kit to kit with yellow stripes in shoulders and waist. Historically, Sri Lanka's kits have had shades of bright blue and golden yellow.

For official ICC tournaments such as ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC World Twenty20 and Asia Cup, 'Sri Lanka' is written on the front of the jersey in place of the sponsor logo, with the sponsor logo being placed on the sleeve. A remarkable change in the colour of the kit of Sri Lanka can be found during the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 edition in South Africa. The team coloured with pale silver and the kit has never seen since then in the team. Since then, Sri Lankan kit never changed from the usual brilliant blue colour and very fine yellow stripes. For 2016 ICC World Twenty20, orange and green colours in the flag also included in to the jersey.

However, for non-ICC tournaments and bilateral and tri-nation matches, the sponsor logo features prominently on the front of the shirt. Currently the main sponsors for Sri Lanka cricket are Ceylon Tea, Dialog Axiata and MAS Holdings.

Logo

Sri Lanka's cricket team's logo is a golden lion with a sword bearing on the right arm and the background in bright blue in colour. The name "Sri Lanka Cricket" is written below the lion. In Test cricket, the logo in the cap is slightly changed, where the lion with a sword is covered by petals of lotus and then a blue circle covered the crest and yellow circle covers the blue circle.

Tournament history

A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within Sri Lanka

Current Squad

This lists all the players who have played for Sri Lanka from the season 2016 to present in all formats of the game.

Key

S/N = Shirt number

Coaching Staff

Head to Head record

International match Summary – Sri Lanka

Updated 28 March 2017

Performance in International Arena

Since gaining Test Status in 1982, the Sri Lanka cricket team has achieved numerous milestones, some of these include

Milestones