Sri Lanka National Cricket Team

The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status. The team first played international cricket (as Ceylon) in 1926–27, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.

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, under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga. 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. They ended up being runners-up on both occasions.

Sri Lanka won the Cricket World Cup in 1996 (vs Australia), the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (co-champions with India), and the ICC T20 World Cup in 2014 (vs India). They have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC T20 World Cup in 2009 and 2012. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including the world record for the highest team total in Test cricket.

History

Underdog era

Cricket was introduced to the island by the British as a result of the colonization and the first recorded match dates back to 1832 as reported in ''The Colombo Journal''. 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 were defeated by nine wickets by the West Indies during the 1975 Cricket World Cup at Old Trafford, England.

Sri Lanka was awarded Test cricket status in 1981 by the International Cricket Conference. 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. After Sri Lanka was awarded Test status on 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 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.

Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against India at Old Trafford, England on 16 June 1979.

Modern era

After many years of underdog status, Sri Lanka finally entered the limelight of the cricketing world after winning the 1996 Cricket World Cup under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga. Meanwhile, they revolutionized modern day batting strategies by rapid scoring during the first 15 overs. Sri Lanka later became the co-champions in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became six times Asian champions in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2014 and 2022.

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.

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 July 2018, Sri Lanka have faced nine teams in Test cricket, only recent Test nations Afghanistan and Ireland are missing from their list of opponents, with their most frequent opponent being Pakistan, playing 55 matches against them. Sri Lanka has registered more wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh than any other team, with 14. In ODI matches, Sri Lanka has 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 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 272 Test matches; they have won 86 matches, lost 101 matches, and 85 matches were drawn. 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. 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.

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. And a 3-0 whitewash against the West Indies 3 years later (2020).

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 organises and hosts the Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament, a competition where five teams take part and represent four different provinces of Sri Lanka.

Most of the regions of Sri Lanka that are rural areas apart from the Capital could not produce the successful cricketers to the national and international side yet due to the lack of resources and opportunities while only a few major areas such as Galle, Matara, Kandy, Kurunegala usually produce successful cricketers to the national and international side instead of the capital. So the government is trying to distribute the game within the whole country organizing some programs such as 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.

International grounds

Note: Except abandoned and cancelled matches.
* ''Updated 12 August 2022.''

Team colours

Similar to other Sri Lankan sports teams, the Sri Lankan national cricket team bears blue and yellow as their colours. The bright blue represents the surrounding ocean, while the golden yellow represents the united island as a whole (depicting the sand).

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 on Australia, England, and New Zealand tours. The Sri Lankan flag is found on the left side of the jersey's chest with the Test cap number usually below the flag; helmets are a deep blue and the fielder's hat (usually a baseball cap or a wide-brimmed sunhat) is coloured similar. The sponsor's logo is displayed on the right side of the chest and the sleeve with the Sri Lankan Cricket logo is deployed on the left in test cricket.

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 on shoulders and waist. Historically, Sri Lanka's kits have had shades of bright blue and golden yellow. In the World Series Cup in 1984–85, Sri Lanka wore yellow uniforms with blue stripes.

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 been seen since then in the team. Since then, the Sri Lankan kit has 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 are also included in the jersey. In 2017 ICC Champions Trophy pool game against India, the kit changed to the mostly yellow coloured shirt with stripes of blue and usual blue trousers.

In 2019 for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the Sri Lankan jersey was made from recycled plastic sea waste from the Sri Lankan coast. On the side of the blue background, there is a drawing of a turtle on the shirt.
However, for non-ICC tournaments and bilateral and tri-nation matches, the sponsor logo features prominently on the front of the shirt.

Logo

Sri Lanka's cricket team's logo is a golden lion with a sword bearing on the right arm and the background is 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 surrounded by petals of lotus and then a blue circle surrounds the crest and a yellow circle surrounds the blue circle.

Sponsorship

The period between 2000 and 2010 saw the sponsorship pass between Ceylon tea, Reebok, Mobitel Sri Lanka and Dialog Axiata; Dilmah has remained a sponsor since the early 2000s, replacing Singer, which was the main sponsor in the 1990s. Former manufacturers were Reebok, AJ Sports, Asics, ISC, and Adidas.

Currently, the main sponsors for Sri Lanka cricket are Dialog Axiata, Jat Holdings and MAS Holdings.

Tournament history

Honours

ICC

*World Cup:
** Champions (1): 1996
** Runners-up (2): 2007, 2011
*T20 World Cup:
** Champions (1): 2014
** Runners-up (2): 2009. 2012
* Champions Trophy:
** Champions (1): 2002

ACC

* Asia Cup:
** Champions (6): 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2014, 2022
** Runners-up (6): 1984, 1988, 1990–91, 1995, 2000, 2010
*Asian Test Championship:
** Champions (1): 2001–02
** Runners-up (1): 1998–99

Others

*Asian Games
** Gold Medal (1): 2014
*South Asian Games
** Silver Medal (2): 2010, 2019

Current squad

This is a list of players who are centrally contracted with SLC or has played for Sri Lanka in the past 12 months or has been named in the recent Test, ODI or T20I squad. Uncapped players are listed in ''italics''. Updated on 14 May 2022.

*Note - Suranga Lakmal and Isuru Udana have played for Sri Lanka in this period, but has since then announced their retirement from international cricket.

The SLCB awards central contracts to its players, its pay graded according to the importance of the player. Players' base salaries are as follows:

* Grade A1 – US$100,000
* Grade A2 – US$ 80,000
*Grade A3 – US$ 70,000
* Grade B1 – US$ 65,000
*Grade B2 – US$ 60,000
*Grade B3 – US$ 55,000
* Grade C1 – US$ 50,000
*Grade C2 – US$ 45,000
*Grade C3 – US$ 40,000
* Grade D1 – US$ 35,000
*Grade D2 – US$ 30,000
*Grade D3 – US$ 25,000

Coaching Staff

Selection Panel

* Pramodya Wickramasinghe (Chairman)
* Romesh Kaluwitharana
* Hemantha Wickramaratne

Records and statistics

International match summary

''Updated: 23 October 2022''

Test matches

Test team records

*Highest team total: 952/6 dec. v. India at RPS, Colombo in 1997
*Lowest team total: 71 v. Pakistan at Asgiriya in 1994
*Sri Lanka holds the world record for the highest team score, 952/6

Test individual records

*Most matches: 149 Tests – Mahela Jayawardene
*Longest-serving captain: 56 Tests – Arjuna Ranatunga

Test batting records

*Most runs: 12,400 – Kumar Sangakkara
*Best average: 57.40 – Kumar Sangakkara
*Highest individual score: 374 – Mahela Jayawardene v. South Africa at SSC, Colombo in 2006
*Highest partnership: 624 – Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene v. South Africa at SSC, Colombo in 2006
*Most centuries: 38 – Kumar Sangakkara

Test bowling records

*Most wickets: 800 – Muttiah Muralitharan
*Best average: 22.67 – Muttiah Muralitharan
*Best figures in an innings: 9/51 – Muttiah Muralitharan v. Zimbabwe at Asgiriya in 2002
*Best figures in a match: 16/220 – Muttiah Muralitharan v. England at The Oval in 1998
*Best strike rate: 51.5 – Lasith Malinga
*Best economy rate: 2.33 – Don Anurasiri

Test fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 205 – Mahela Jayawardene
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 156 – Prasanna Jayawardene
*Most dismissals in an innings: 6 – Amal Silva v. India at SSC, Colombo in 1985 and Dinesh Chandimal v. Pakistan at PSS, Colombo in 2015
*Most dismissals in a match: 9 – Amal Silva v. India at SSC, Colombo & PSS, Colombo in 1985 and Prasanna Jayawardene v. Pakistan at Dubai in 2014

Test record versus other nations

One Day Internationals

ODI team records

*Highest team total: 443/9 (50 overs) v. Netherlands at VRA Cricket Ground in 2006
*Lowest team total: 43 (20.1 overs) v. South Africa at Boland Park in 2012
*Sri Lanka holds the world record for maximum defeats in ODI history- 430.

ODI individual records

*Most matches: 443 – Mahela Jayawardene
*Longest-serving captain: 193 matches – Arjuna Ranatunga

ODI batting records

*Most runs: 14,234 – Kumar Sangakkara
*Best average: 41.97 –Kumar Sangakkara
*Best strike rate: 112.59 – Thisara Perera
*Highest individual score: 189 – Sanath Jayasuriya v. India at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in 2000
*Highest partnership: 286* – Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga v. England at Headingley in 2006
*Most centuries: 28 – Sanath Jayasuriya
*Most Sixes: 268 – Sanath Jayasuriya

ODI bowling records

*Most wickets: 534 – Muttiah Muralitharan
*Best average: 21.87 – Ajantha Mendis
*Best figures in an innings: 8/19 – Chaminda Vaas v. Zimbabwe at Colombo (SSC) in 2001
*Best strike rate: 27.3 – Ajantha Mendis
*Best economy rate: 3.93 – Muttiah Muralitharan

ODI fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 212 – Mahela Jayawardene
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 473 – Kumar Sangakkara
*Most dismissals in a match: 5 – Guy de Alwis v. Australia at Colombo (PSS) in 1983; Hashan Tillakaratne v. Pakistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in 1990; Romesh Kaluwitharana v. Pakistan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in 1995; Kumar Sangakkara v. Netherlands at Colombo (RPS) in 2002

ODI record versus other nations

T20 Internationals

T20I team records

*Highest team total: 260/6 v. Kenya at Johannesburg in 2007
*Lowest team total: 79 v. India at Visakhapatnam in 2016
*Sri Lanka holds the world record for most defeats in T20I history- 85.

T20I individual records

*Most matches: 84 – Lasith Malinga
*Longest-serving captain: 31 matches – Dasun Shanaka

T20I batting records

*Most runs: 1,889 – Tillakaratne Dilshan
*Best average: 31.77 – Mahela Jayawardene
*Best strike rate: 147.67 – Thisara Perera
*Highest individual score: 104 * – Tillakaratne Dilshan v. Australia at Pallekele in 2011
*Highest partnership: 166 – Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara v. West Indies at Kensington Oval in 2010
*Most centuries: 1 – Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene
*Most Sixes: 53 – Thisara Perera

T20I bowling records

*Most wickets: 107 – Lasith Malinga
*Best average: 14.42 – Ajantha Mendis
*Best bowling: 6/8 – Ajantha Mendis v. Zimbabwe at Hambantota in 2012
*Best strike rate: 13.4 – Ajantha Mendis
*Best economy rate: 6.45 – Ajantha Mendis

T20I fielding records

*Most catches by an outfielder: 29 – Thisara Perera
*Most dismissals as wicketkeeper: 45 – Kumar Sangakkara
*Most dismissals in an innings: 4 – Dinesh Chandimal v. South Africa at Johannesburg in 2017

T20I record versus other nations

See also

* Cricket in Sri Lanka
* List of Sri Lanka national cricket captains
* List of Sri Lanka ODI cricketers
* List of Sri Lanka Test cricketers
* List of Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
* Sri Lanka women's national cricket team
* Lanka Premier League

References

External links

*

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