The Sri Lanka national cricket team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in international Cricket. It is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test and One-Day International (ODI) status. The team first played international cricket in 1926-27, and were later awarded Test status in 1982, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket. Dinesh Chandimal is the current captain in Tests and Thisara Perera in ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
Sri Lanka's national cricket team achieved considerable success beginning in the 1990s, rising from underdog status to winning the Cricket World Cup in 1996. Since then, the team has continued to be a force in international cricket. The Sri Lankan cricket team reached the finals of the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups consecutively. But they ended up being runners up in both those occasions. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, among many other talented cricketers, has underpinned the successes of Sri Lankan cricket in the last two decades.
Sri Lanka have won the Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (co-champions with India), and have won the ICC World Twenty20 championship in 2014. They have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including the world record for highest team total in Tests. The ODI total was broken by England on 30 August 2016 and Twenty20 total was broken by Australia on 6 September 2016
Video 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 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.
From 8 July 2017 to 23 October 2017, Sri Lanka lost twelve consecutive ODI matches, which is their second longest losing run in ODIs. In the meantime, Sri Lanka involved 5-0 whitewash in three times against South Africa, India and Pakistan in 2017.
Maps Sri Lanka national cricket team
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. Bandula Warnapura was the captain for Sri Lanka in that match, which England won by 7 wickets.
Sri Lanka won their first Test match under the leadership of Duleep Mendis on 11 September 1985 against India, winning by 149 runs at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1-0. Sri Lanka had to wait more than seven years for their next series victory, which came against New Zealand in December 1992, when they won the two-match series 1-0. This was immediately followed by a one-wicket victory against England in a one-Test series.
Two years later, on 15 March 1995, Sri Lanka won their 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 their first Test match against Australia, when they beat them by six wickets at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1-0.
On 14 June 2000, Sri Lanka played their 100th Test match. It was against Pakistan, at SSC, Colombo, under the leadership of Sanath Jayasuriya. Pakistan won 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.
Until 2017, Sri Lanka had whitewashed Zimbabwe three times, Bangladesh once and Australia once in Test cricket.
Sri Lanka played their first day-night Test match on 6 October 2017 against Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Under the captaincy of Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka convincingly won the match by 68 runs and sweep the series 2-0. In the match, Dimuth Karunaratne became the first Sri Lankan to score a fifty, a century and a 150 in a day-night Test. Lahiru Gamage, who debut in the match became the first Sri Lankan to take a wicket in a day-night Test, whereas Dilruwan Perera became the first Sri Lankan to take five-wicket haul in a day-night Test.
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 6 September 2017.
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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. In 2017 ICC Champions Trophy pool game against India, the kit changed to mostly yellow colored shirt with stripes of blue and usual blue trousers.
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, Huawei 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.
History tour
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 since 1 September 2016 to present in all formats of the game.
Key
S/N = Shirt number
Coaching staff
- Manager: Asanka Gurusinha
- Chief operating officer : Jerome Jayaratne
- High performance manager: Simon Willis
- Head Coach: Chandika Hathurusinghe
- Batting Coach: Thilan Samaraweera
- Fielding Coach: Nic Pothas
- Fast Bowling Coach: Rumesh Ratnayake
- Spin Bowling Coach: Piyal Wijetunge
- Strength & Conditioning Coach: Nick Lee
- Physiotherapist: Vacant
Records and Statistics
Head to Head record
International match Summary - Sri Lanka
Updated 6 December 2017
Performance in International Arena
Since gaining Test Status in 1982, the Sri Lanka cricket team has achieved numerous milestones, some of these include
- First Test match in 1982 vs England
- First win, and series victory against India in 1985
- First win, and series victory away from home against New Zealand in 1995
- Winners of the 1996 Cricket World Cup, which they co-hosted with India & Pakistan.
- Joint Winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, which they also hosted in their own right.
- Semi-finalists in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, hosted by South Africa.
- Runners up in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, hosted by the West Indies.
- Runners up in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, hosted by England.
- Semi-finalists in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, hosted by the West Indies.
- Runners up of the 2011 Cricket World Cup which they co-hosted with India & Bangladesh.
- Runners up in, and hosts of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20
- Champions and gold medalists of 2014 Asian Games at Incheon.
- Winners of 2014 ICC World Twenty20, hosted by Bangladesh.
Team Milestones
- Sri Lanka is the only team to hold highest scores of all formats at one time.
- Sri Lanka currently holds the record for Highest Team Total of Test cricket.
- Sri Lanka currently holds the record for Highest successful run chase in Test cricket in Asian soil.
- Sri Lanka is the only ICC Trophy winning team to have gone on to win the Cricket World Cup at a later date.
- Sri Lanka was the first team to win the ICC cricket World Cup in home continent(Asia)
- Sri Lanka was also the first team to win the ICC Cricket World Cup by chasing the total.
- Sri Lanka is the only team to have participated in every edition of the Asia Cup.
- Sri Lanka is the fourth nation to reach two consecutive World Cup Finals (2007 and 2011), after West Indies (1975, 1979 and 1983), Australia (1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007) and England (1987 and 1992).
- Sri Lanka is the only team to have played 150 ODIs against two nations in the history (v India and Pakistan).
- Between 8 years (2007-2015) Sri Lanka have played five ICC Finals 2007 Cricket World Cup , 2009 ICC World Twenty20, 2011 Cricket World Cup , 2012 ICC World Twenty20, and 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
See also
- Cricket in Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka women's national cricket team
- List of Sri Lanka national cricket captains
- List of Sri Lanka Test cricketers
- List of Sri Lanka ODI cricketers
- List of Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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