Sri Lanka national cricket team

Sri Lanka national cricket team

Test status granted
1982
First Test match
v England at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, 17–21st February 1982
Captain
Kumar Sangakkara
Coach
Trevor Bayliss
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking
2nd (Test), 7th (ODI)
Test matches- 189
This year - 5
Last Test match
v New Zealand at Colombo, 26–30 August 2009
Wins/losses- 60/67
This year - 4/1
As of 19 January2008


The Sri Lankan cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing nation. The Sri Lankan team transformed themselves from underdog status to a major cricketing nation during the 1990s. The team went on to win the 1996 Cricket World Cup, beating Australia in the finals, and becoming World Champions. Since then, the team has continued to be a major force in international cricket. Sri Lankan team currently holds several word records including world records for highest team totals in all three forms of the game, Test, ODI and, Twenty20. The Sri Lanka team did well to reach the finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup in a rain-affected match. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva (retired), backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas, among many other talented cricketers, has underpinned the successes of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Sri Lanka have won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 co champions with India since the final was a wash out and have been runners up in the Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2000 and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009.


History of Sri Lankan international cricket
Early years
Ceylon, as the country was known before 1972, played its first first-class match under that name against MCC at Nomads Ground, Victoria Park, Colombo in 1926–27, losing by an innings. The team's first win came against Patiala at Dhruve Pandove Stadium in 1932–33. The Ceylonese side competed in the M. J. Gopalan Trophy games from the 1950s, through the change of name to Sri Lanka, well into the 1970s.

Test status and beyond
Gained Test Status in 1981 and first played a Test Match in 1982
Won the 1996 Cricket World Cup hosted by India, Sri Lanka & Pakistan
Semi Finalists in the 2003 Cricket World Cup hosted by South Africa
Runners up of the 2007 World Cup hosted by the West Indies
As of October 2007, the Sri Lankan team has played 170 Test matches, winning 29.41%, losing 37.05% and drawing 33.52% of its games. Sri Lanka hold the current records for the highest total score in all three main formats of the game.
Sri Lankan cricket's greatest moment undoubtedly came during the aforementioned 1996 World Cup, when they defeated the top-ranked Australian team in the Final. Sri Lanka's game style over the course of the series revolutionized One Day International Cricket, and was characterized by highly aggressive batting in the first fifteen overs of the innings in order to take advantage of the fielding restrictions imposed during this period. This strategy has since become a hallmark of One Day International cricket.
Sri Lankan cricket supporters were once again thrilled by the team's tremendous performance at the NatWest Series in 2006. Although as a whole the team missed its captain, Marvan Atapattu, and also Muttiah Muralitharan, nevertheless Sanath, together with Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof all contributed substantially.
Sri Lanka's performance during the 5–0 whitewash, England's heaviest home defeat in 13 years, was, some sloppy fielding in a couple of games aside, consistently excellent. Sanath Jayasuriya was both the Man of the Match and Man of the Series. They also made the highest score in One Day International Cricket of 443 against The Netherlands in the following series.

2009 shooting incident
Main article: 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
On March 3, 2009, the Sri Lankan team's convoy was attacked in Lahore, Pakistan by gunmen. This led to the death of five policemen and injuries to seven cricketers and a member of the coaching team. The team was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium where they were scheduled to begin the third day of the Second Test. After the incident the test match was called off by the Sri Lankan Cricket board. Sri Lanka had agreed to tour Pakistan, replacing India who refused to do so citing security concerns.

Injured
Thilan Samaraweera
Kumar Sangakkara
Tharanga Paranavitana
Ajantha Mendis
Chaminda Vaas
Mahela Jayawardene
Suranga Lakmal
Paul Farbrace

Governing body
Main article: Sri Lanka Cricket
Sri Lanka Cricket, formerly the Board for Cricket Control in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), is the controlling 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 competition Twenty20 Tournament. They also organize and host the Inter-Provincial Tournament, a competition where the above first-class do not take part but rather teams represent four different provinces of Sri Lanka.

International grounds
Main article: List of cricket grounds in Sri Lanka


Saravanamuttu

SSC Grounds

CCC Grounds

Premadasa

Tyronne Fernando

Galle International

Asgiriya

Rangiri Dambulla

Locations of all stadiums which have hosted a Test match or an One Day International within Sri Lanka.

Test and ODI
Listed in order of date first used for Test match
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo
Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy
Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo
Colombo Cricket Club Ground, Colombo
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Tyronne Fernando Stadium, Moratuwa
Galle International Stadium, Galle

ODI only
Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla