Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

is the most popular sport in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. 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 The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

. 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 The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

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 The Major League Tournament (formerly known as the Premier Trophy) is the main domestic first-class cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1938 and has existed under a number of different names. Matches before the 1988–89 seas ...

(dating from 1938) and the

Premier Limited Overs Tournament The Premier Limited Overs Tournament (currently known as AIA Premier Limited Overs Tournament for sponsorship reasons) is the main domestic limited overs cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1988 and has existed under four diff ...

(starting 1988–89). Sri Lanka's

one day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut came in the

1975 Cricket World Cup The 1975 Cricket World Cup (officially called the Prudential Cup '75) was the inaugural men's Cricket World Cup, and the first major tournament in the history of One Day International (ODI) cricket. Organised by the International Cricket Confer ...

. The country was awarded Test cricket status by the International Cricket Council in 1981.

Governing body

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...

, formerly the Board for Cricket Control in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), is the controlling body for

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. It operates the

Sri Lankan cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

, Sri Lanka A cricket team, Sri Lankan women's cricket team and first-class cricket within Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a full member of the International Cricket Council and the Asian Cricket Council. Sri Lanka co-hosted the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 after the Wills Navy Cut brand produced by tournament sponsor ITC, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was the second World Cu ...

and the

2011 Cricket World Cup The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

Domestic competitions

Sri Lanka Cricket oversees the progress and handling of the major domestic competitions: the First-class tournaments – SLC Tier A and B

, the

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

tournament –

and the Twenty20 competition –

SLC Twenty20 Tournament SLC Twenty20 Tournament was a Twenty20 wikt:domestic, domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka held by Sri Lanka Cricket. It was conducted from 2004 to 2007 and was held between the list of Sri Lankan cricket teams, clubs in Sri Lanka. From 2 ...

, in which the following first-class teams may take part: *

Badureliya Sports Club Badureliya Sports Club is a first-class cricket team in Sri Lanka. It plays its home matches at Surrey Village Cricket Ground, Maggona. In late 2008, the club threatened to boycott the Sri Lankan domestic tournaments due to their objections to b ...

( Maggona) *

Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO () ...

( Colombo) *

Burgher Recreation Club Burgher Recreation Club is a first-class cricket and hockey club based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. History The club was founded on 26 December 1896 known as the Bambalapitya Recreation Club, with membership restricted to the Burgher community. The fi ...

(Colombo) * Chilaw Marians Cricket Club (Colombo) * Colombo Cricket Club (Colombo) * Colts Cricket Club (Colombo) * Galle Cricket Club ( Galle) * Kalutara Town Club ( Kalutara) *

Kandy Customs Cricket Club Kandy Customs Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Founded in 2019, they were one of the 24 teams to take part in the 2018–19 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, starting on 15 February 2019. In their opening match of the ...

( Kandy) *

Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team in Sri Lanka. They made their first-class debut in 1991 against Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club at Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo. In the 1993/94 season, they were b ...

( Kurunegala) * Lankan Cricket Club (Colombo) * Moors Sports Club (Colombo) * Negombo Cricket Club ( Negombo * Nondescripts Cricket Club (Colombo) * Nugegoda Sports and Welfare Club ( Nugegoda) *

Panadura Sports Club Panadura Sports Club is a first-class cricket team based in Panadura, Sri Lanka. Their home ground is the Panadura Public Ground History Panadura Sports Club has been in existence since 1924. The team has played first-class cricket since 1988– ...

( Panadura) * Police Sports Club (Colombo) * Ragama Cricket Club ( Ragama) * Saracens Sports Club (Colombo) *

Sinhalese Sports Club The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt wi ...

(Colombo) * Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club ( Katunayake) * Sri Lanka Army Sports Club ( Panagoda) * Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club (Welisara) *

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club Ace Capital Cricket Club is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It was originally founded in 1989 as the Seeduwa/Raddoluwa Cricket Club. In 2011, it became the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club. The SLPA withdrew sponsorship in October ...

(

Seeduwa Seeduwa (/sīðuvə/; Sinhalese language, Sinhalese: සීදුව ''Seeduwa'' pronounced īðuvə Tamil language, Tamil: சீதுவை ''Seeduwai'' pronounced ītuvai is a suburb of Negombo city, in Katana Divisional Secretaria ...

) * Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club (Colombo) Several competitions have been arranged where teams were formed out of each of the major provinces, independent to the above clubs: *

Inter-Provincial Cricket Inter-Provincial Cricket was a cricket tournament that included the three domestic cricket competitions in Sri Lanka. It started with the Inter-Provincial First Class Tournament in 1990 because of the general idea that club cricket alone would b ...

, established 1990, currently with 5 teams ( Basnahira North, Basnahira South,

Kandurata The Central Province ( si, මධ්‍යම පළාත ''Madhyama Paḷāta'', ta, மத்திய மாகாணம் ''Madhdhiya Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of t ...

, Ruhuna, and

Wayamba North Western Province ( si, වයඹ පළාත ''Wayamba Paḷāta'', ta, வட மேல் மாகாணம் ''Vada Mael Mākāṇam'') is a province of Sri Lanka. The province consists of the districts of Kurunegala and Puttalam. It ...

) * Super Four Provincial, established 2017, currently with 4 teams (Colombo, Dambulla, Galle, and Kandy)

National cricket team

The

is the national

team of

. The team first played

One day international A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

cricket in the

and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made

the eighth Test cricket playing nation. The Sri Lankan team transformed themselves from the underdog status to a leading cricketing nation during the 1990s. Sri Lanka currently holds the record for the highest Team total in Test Cricket Sri Lanka have won the

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

in 1996, the

ICC Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council. The 2013 tournament was intended to be the final edition of the Champions Trophy, but it was extended to 2017 due to i ...

in 2002 (Co-champions with India), the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014. They are also Six times champions of

Asia Cup The Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup is a men's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. ...

in 1986, 1997, 2004, 2008, 2014 & 2022 and have been

runners up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

in the

2007 Cricket World Cup The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...

2009 ICC World Twenty20 The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...

and

2012 ICC World Twenty20 The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was the fourth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012 which was won by the West Indies. The schedule has been pos ...

Women's cricket team

The Sri Lankan women's cricket team is the team that represents Sri Lanka in international women's cricket matches. Sri Lankan women's cricket team's international debut came in 1997 with a three match ODI series against the Netherlands. Since then, the team has represented Sri Lanka in international women's cricket tournaments.

References

External links