Cricket in Sri Lanka

Cricket in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Cricket Logo
Country	Sri Lanka
Governing body	SLC
National team(s)	Men Women U-19
Nickname(s)	Lankan Lions
National competitions
National Super League 4-Day Tournament (First Class) National Super League Limited Over Tournament (List A) National Super League T20 (T20) Lanka Premier League (T20)
Club competitions
Major League Tournament (Sri Lanka) (First Class) Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament (List A) Major Clubs T20 Tournament (T20) Major Clubs Emerging
International competitions
Nidahas Trophy (ODI/T20I) Warne–Muralidaran Trophy (Test) Sobers–Tissera Trophy (Test) ICC ODI Cricket World Cup (ODI) ICC T20 Cricket World Cup (T20I) ICC Champions Trophy (ODI) ICC Test Championship (Test) ICC World Test Championship (Test) ICC Women's Cricket World Cup (ODI) ICC Women's T20 World Cup (T20I) ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup (ODI) ACC Asia Cup (ODI/T20I) ACC Women's Asia Cup (ODI/T20I)

Sri Lanka is one of the twelve nations that take part in Test cricket and one of the six nations that has won a cricket World Cup. Cricket is played at professional, semi-professional and recreational levels in the country and international cricket matches are watched with interest by a large proportion of the population.

Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) was occupied by the British in 1796 and became a British colony in 1815. As in all places that the British arrived in large numbers, cricket soon followed and it is reasonable to assume that the game was first played on the island by 1800. The earliest definite mention of cricket in Ceylon was a report in the Colombo Journal on 5 September 1832 which called for the formation of a cricket club. The Colombo Cricket Club was formed soon afterwards and matches began in November 1832. Since then, the sport has grown domestically with major events such as the Premier Trophy (dating from 1938), now known as the Major League Tournament (Sri Lanka) and the Premier Limited Overs Tournament (starting 1988–89), now known as the Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament. Sri Lanka's one day international debut came in the 1975 Cricket World Cup. The country was awarded Test cricket status by the International Cricket Council in 1981.