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History of the Sri Lankan cricket team

See also: History of cricket in Sri Lanka

The History of 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 Old Trafford, Manchester, England.[1]

After Sri Lanka awarded Test status on 21 July 1981 as the 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.[2][3] As of 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 272 Test matches; they have won 86 matches, lost 101 matches, and 85 matches were drawn.[4] They have also won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs.[5]

Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Manchester, England, on 16 June 1979.[6] As of 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 816 ODI matches, winning 376 matches and losing 399; they also tied 5 matches, whilst 36 had no result.[7] They also won the 1996 Cricket World Cup,[8] co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became six times Asian champions in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2022 Asia Cup.

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.[9] In 2014, they won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets.[10] As of 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 108 T20I matches and won 54 of them; 52 were lost and 1 tied and 1 no result match as well.[11]

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.[12] Sri Lanka have registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14.[12] 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.[13] Within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs.[13] 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.[14] 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.

The Sri Lanka national cricket team represents Sri Lanka in international cricket and is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) status.[15]

  1. ^ "1975 Prudential World Cup – 4th match, Group B". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  2. ^ "India in Sri Lanka Test Series, 1985 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Sri Lanka's greatest Test victories". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  4. ^ "Records / Test matches / Team records / Results summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Asian Test Championship, 2001/02 – Final". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  6. ^ "1979 Prudential World Cup – 9th match, Group B". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Records / One-Day Internationals / Team records / Results summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Wills World Cup, 1995/96: Final". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  9. ^ "Sri Lanka in England T20I Match, 2006". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  10. ^ "2014 ICC World Twenty20 – Final". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  11. ^ "Records / Twenty20 Internationals / Team records / Results summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  12. ^ a b "Records / Sri Lanka / Test matches / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  13. ^ a b "Records / Sri Lanka / One-Day Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  14. ^ "Records / Sri Lanka / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  15. ^ "ICC Members Countries". International Cricket Council (ICC). Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.

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