Sri Lanka national cricket team

Sri Lanka National Cricket Team
Sri Lanka cricket crest
Test status granted	1982
First Test match	vs England at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, 17–21st February 1982
Captain	Tillakaratne Dilshan
Coach	Geoff Marsh
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking	5th (Test), 2nd (ODI) , 2nd (T20I) [1]
Test matches - This year	201 03
Last Test match	v England at Southampton, June 16–20, 2011
Wins/losses - This year	61 / 71 00 / 01
As of 2nd July 2011 [2]

Sri Lanka cricket logo

The Sri Lankan cricket team is the national cricket team of 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 cricket playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.

Sri Lanka's national cricket team transformed the country 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. The Sri Lankan cricket team reached the finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup but lost to Australia in a rain-affected final match. And in 2011 Cricket World Cup they lost to India despite a great bating performance by Sri Lankan player Mahela Jayawardene. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya (retired) and Aravinda de Silva (retired), backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan (retired) and Chaminda Vaas (retired), among many other talented cricketers, has underpinned the successes of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years.

Sri Lanka have won the Cricket World Cup in 1996, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2002 (co-champions with India), 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. The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including world records for highest team totals in all three forms of the game, Test, ODI and Twenty20. 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).

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. ^[1] The team's first win came against Patiala at Dhruve Pandove Stadium in 1932–33. ^[2] 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. Sri Lankan cricket team's One Day International debut came in the 1975 Cricket World Cup and were later awarded test cricket status in 1981, by the International Cricket Council.

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
• Runners up of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England
• Semi Finalists in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by West Indies
• Runners up of the 2011 Cricket World Cup hosted by India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh

As of April 2010, the Sri Lankan team has played 192 Test matches, winning 31.25%, losing 35.94% and drawing 32.81% of its games.^[3]

Sri Lankan cricket's greatest moment undoubtedly came during the aforementioned 1996 World Cup, when they defeated the top-ranked Australian team under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga 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 team won the Asia Cup in 1986, 1997, 2004 and 2008. Sri Lanka whitewashed England 5–0 in the NatWest Series in 2006. It was England's heaviest home defeat in 13 years. Sanath Jayasuriya was the Man of the Series.

Milestones

• 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 is the only team to have participated in every edition of the Asia Cup.

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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

International grounds

Main article: List of cricket grounds in Sri Lanka

Saravanamuttu

SSC

CCC

R. Premadasa

Tyronne Fernando

Galle

Asgiriya

Rangiri Dambulla

Pallekele

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Welagedara

Locations of all international grounds in Sri Lanka

Test

Listed in order of date first used for Test match

No	Stadium name	Location	Capacity	First used	Matches
1	Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium	Colombo	15,000	17 February 1982	15
2	Asgiriya Stadium	Kandy	10,300	22 April 1982	21
3	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	Colombo	10,000	16 March 1984	34
4	Colombo Cricket Club Ground (now not used)	Colombo	6,000	24 March 1984	3
5	R. Premadasa Stadium	Colombo	35,000	28 August 1992	7
6	Tyronne Fernando Stadium (now not used)	Moratuwa	15,000	8 September 1992	4
7	Galle International Stadium	Galle	35,000	3 June 1998	17
8	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium	Pallekele, Kandy	35,000	1 December 2010	1

One Day International

No	Stadium name	Location	Capacity	First used	Matches
1	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	Colombo	10,000	13 February 1982	59
2	Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium	Colombo	15,000	13 April 1983	12
3	Tyronne Fernando Stadium (now not used)	Moratuwa	15,000	31 March 1984	6
4	Asgiriya Stadium	Kandy	10,300	2 March 1986	6
5	R. Premadasa Stadium	Colombo	35,000	5 April 1986	101
6	Galle International Stadium	Galle	35,000	25 June 1998	4
7	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium	Dambulla	16,800	23 March 2001	43
8	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium	Hambantota	35,000	20 February 2011	2
9	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium	Pallekele, Kandy	35,000	8 March 2011	3
10	Welagedara Stadium (Hasn't hosted a single match yet)	Kurunegala	10,000	-	-

Tournament history

Current Tournaments

ICC Tournaments

World Cup record Year Round Position GP W L T NR 1975 Round 1 7/8 3 0 3 0 0 1979 Round 1 5/8 3 1 1 0 1 1983 Round 1 7/8 6 1 5 0 0 1987 Round 1 7/8 6 0 6 0 0 1992 Round 1 8/9 8 2 5 0 1 1996 Champions 1/12 8 8 0 0 0 1999 Round 1 9/12 5 2 3 0 0 2003 Semi finals 3/14 12 6 5 1 0 2007 Second place 2/16 12 9 3 0 0 2011 Second place[6] 2/14 9 6 2 0 1 2015 Qualified – – – – – – 2019 Qualified – – – – – – Total 12/12 1 title 63 29 31 1 2

Asia Cup record Year Round Position GP W L T NR 1984 Second place 2/3 2 1 1 0 0 1986 Champions 1/3 3 2 1 0 0 1988 Second place 2/4 4 3 1 0 0 1990–91 Second place 2/3 3 2 1 0 0 1993 Not Held 1995 Second place 2/4 4 2 2 0 0 1997 Champions 1/4 4 4 0 0 0 2000 Second place 2/4 4 2 2 0 0 2004 Champions 1/6 6 4 2 0 0 2008 Champions 1/6 6 5 1 0 0 2010 Second Place 2/4 4 3 1 0 0 2012 Qualified - - - - - - Total 11/11 4 titles 40 28 12 0 0

Champions Trophy record Year Round Position GP W L T NR 1998 Semi-finals 3 or 4/9 2 1 1 0 0 2000 Quarter-finals 5–8/8 2 1 1 0 0 2002 Joint 1st 1/12 4 3 0 0 1 2004 Round 1 ?/12 2 1 1 0 0 2006 Round 1 8/10 6 4 2 0 0 2009 Round 1 6/8 3 1 2 0 0 Total 6/6 1 title 19 11 7 0 1 World Twenty20 record Year Round Position GP W L T NR 2007 Super 8s 6/12 5 3 2 0 0 2009 Second place 2/12 7 6 1 0 0 2010 Semi-finals 3/12 6 3 3 0 0 2012 Qualified /12 - - - - - 2014 Qualified - - - - - - Total 5/5 0 titles 18 12 6 0 0

Other

Asia Games record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
2010	Bronze medal match	4/9	3	1	2	0	0
Total	1/1	0 titles	3	1	2	0	0

Defunct Tournaments

ICC Tournaments

World Cup Qualifier record Year Round Position GP W L T AB 1979 Champions 1/12 6 4 1 0 1 1982 Not eligible 1986 Not eligible 1990 Not eligible 1994 Not eligible 1997 Not eligible 2001 Not eligible 2005 Not eligible 2009 Not eligible Total 1/9 1 title 6 4 1 0 1

Australasia Cup record Year Round Position GP W L T NR 1986 Semi Finals ?/5 1 0 1 0 0 1989–90 Semi Finals ?/6 3 1 2 0 0 1994 First Round ?/6 2 0 2 0 0 Total 3/3 0 titles 6 1 5 0 0

Asian Test Championship record Year Round Position GP W L D NR 1998–99 Second place 2/3 3 0 1 2 0 2001–02 Champions 1/3 2 2 0 0 0 Total 2/2 1 title 5 2 1 2 0

Other

Commonwealth Games record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	L	T	NR
1998	Third place	3/16	5	3	2	0	0
Total	1/1	0 Titles	5	3	2	0	0

Current squad

This lists all the players who play for Sri Lanka, and the forms in which they play.

Key

• S/N: Shirt number

Name	Age	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Domestic team	Forms	S/N
Captain and All rounder
Tillakaratne Dilshan	35	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Bloomfield	Test, ODI, Twenty20	23
Vice-Captain and All rounder
Angelo Mathews	24	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Colts	Test, ODI, Twenty20	69
Opening Batsmen
Tharanga Paranavitana	29	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Sinhalese	Test
Upul Tharanga	26	Left-Handed Bat		Nondescripts	ODI	44
Lahiru Thirimanne	22	Left-Handed Bat		Ragama	Test, ODI	66
Jeevantha Kulatunga	38	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Colts	ODI, Twenty 20	06
Malinda Warnapura	32	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Colts	Test	10
Middle-Order Batsmen
Mahela Jayawardene	34	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Sinhalese	Test, ODI, Twenty20	27
Thilina Kandamby	29	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Leg-Break	Sinhalese	ODI, Twenty20	25
Chamara Kapugedera	24	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Colombo	ODI, Twenty20	16
Thilan Samaraweera	35	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Sinhalese	Test, ODI	03
Chamara Silva	31	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Leg-Break	Bloomfield	ODI, Twenty20	05
Middle-Order Batsman and Wicketkeeper
Kumar Sangakkara	34	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Nondescripts	Test, ODI, Twenty20	11
Dinesh Chandimal	22	Right-Handed Bat		Nondescripts	ODI, Twenty20	17
Wicket-keepers
Prasanna Jayawardene	32	Right-Handed Bat		Bloomfield	Test	04
All rounders
Chinthaka Jayasinghe	33	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium	Bloomfield	Twenty20	18
Dilruwan Perera	29	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off Spin	Panadura	ODI, Twenty20	15
Thissara Perera	22	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-Fast	Colts	ODI, Test, Twenty20	01
Jeevan Mendis	28	Left-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Legbreak	Bloomfield	ODI, Twenty20	09
Muthumudalige Pushpakumara	30	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Tamil Union	ODI, Twenty20	21
Gihan Rupasinghe	25	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Leg-Break	Tamil Union	Twenty20
Kaushalya Weeraratne	30	Left-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-Fast	Ragama	Twenty20	34
Pace Bowlers
Dammika Prasad	28	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Sinhalese	Test, ODI	30
Lasith Malinga	28	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast	Nondescripts	ODI, Twenty20	99
Thilan Thushara	30	Left-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Fast-Medium	Sinhalese	Test, ODI, Twenty20	97
Nuwan Kulasekara	29	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Medium-fast	Colts	Test, ODI, Twenty20	92
Dilhara Fernando	32	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-Medium	Sinhalese	Test, ODI, Twenty20	26
Suranga Lakmal	24	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-medium	Tamil Union	Test, ODI	82
Isuru Udana	23	Right-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Medium-Fast	Tamil Union	Twenty20	61
Chanaka Welegedara	30	Right-Handed Bat	Left-Arm Fast-Medium	Moors	Test, ODI	12
Shaminda Eranga	25	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Fast-medium	Chilaw	Test, ODI	22
Spin Bowlers
Seekkuge Prasanna	26	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Leg-Break	Sri Lanka Army	Test, ODI	06
Malinga Bandara	31	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Leg-Break	Nondescripts	ODI, Twenty20	72
Rangana Herath	33	Left-Handed Bat	Slow Left-Arm Orthodox	Moors	Test, ODI	78
Ajantha Mendis	26	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break, Leg-Break	Sri Lanka Army	Test, ODI, Twenty20	40
Suraj Randiv	26	Right-Handed Bat	Right-Arm Off-Break	Bloomfield	Test, ODI, Twenty20	88

Records by Sri Lanka

National Records by Sri Lanka

Records are bold if it is a World Record.

Batting records

Test Matches

• Highest team total – 952/6 against India in 1997.
• Highest aggregate of runs- Mahela Jayawardene (8221) in 101 matches at an Average of 53.38
• Most number of matches played – Muttiah Muralitharan (126).
• Most number of matches as captain – Arjuna Ranatunga (56) from 1989 to 1999.
• Highest individual score – 374 by Mahela Jayawardene against South Africa in July 2006.
• Highest partnership – 624 for the third wicket by Kumar Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006.
• Most number of centuries – Mahela Jayawardene (28) in 101 matches.
• Most number of half centuries – Arjuna Ranatunga (38) in 93 matches.
• Most number of dismissals(includes wicket-keeping) – Kumar Sangakkara (173 dismissals) in 79 matches.
• Most number of catches – Mahela Jayawardene (142) in 101 matches.
• Highest average (qualification 20 inns.) – Kumar Sangakkara (54.59)

ODI Matches

• Highest team total – 443/9 against Netherlands in July 2006.
• Highest aggregate of runs – Sanath Jayasuriya (13,151) in 432 matches at an average of 32.71.
• Most number of matches played – Sanath Jayasuriya (432).
• Most number of matches as captain – Arjuna Ranatunga (193) from 1988 to 1999.
• Highest individual score – 189 by Sanath Jayasuriya against India in October, 2000.
• Highest opening partnership – 286 by Sanath Jayasuriya (152) and Upul Tharanga (109) against England on July 2006.
• Highest ninth wicket partnership – 132 by Angelo Mathews (77) and Lasith Malinga (56) against Australia on November 2010.
• Most number of centuries – Sanath Jayasuriya (28) in 432 matches.
• Most number of half centuries – Sanath Jayasuriya (67) in 432 matches.
• Most number of dismissals(includes wicket-keeping) – Kumar Sangakkara(291 dismissals) in 246 matches.
• Most number of catches – Mahela Jayawardene (170) in 343 matches.
• Highest average (qualification 20 inns.) – Marvan Atapattu (37.57).
• Highest number of sixes in a match – Sanath Jayasuriya (11).
• Highest number of sixes in a career – Sanath Jayasuriya (268).
• The World's Fastest ODI 50 – scored by Sanath Jayasuriya (17 balls).
• The World's Fastest ODI 150 – scored by Sanath Jayasuriya (95 balls).

Twenty20 Matches

• Highest team total – 260/6 against Kenya on 14 September 2007.
• Highest winning margin – 172 runs against Kenya in 14 September 2007.

Bowling records

Test Matches

• Most number of wickets – 800 by Muttiah Muralitharan
• Best individual bowling – 9/51 by Muttiah Muralitharan against Zimbabwe in January 2002.
• Best bowling in a match – 16/220 by Muttiah Muralitharan against England in August 1998.
• Most number of 10 wicket hauls – Muttiah Muralitharan (22).
• Most number of 5 wicket hauls – Muttiah Muralitharan (67).
• Best average – 18.94 by Ajantha Mendis.
• Most number of wickets taken bowled – Muttiah Muralitharan (157).
• Most number of wickets taken stumped – Muttiah Muralitharan (41).

ODI Matches

• Most number of wickets – 534 by Muttiah Muralitharan at 23.00 in 349 matches.
• Best individual bowling – 8/19 by Chaminda Vaas against Zimbabwe in December 2001.
• Most number of 5 wicket hauls – Muttiah Muralitharan (8).
• Best Average – 10.25 by Ajantha Mendis.
• Only bowler to take 4 wickets in 4 consecutive balls – Lasith Malinga against South Africa in March 2007.
• First Sri Lankan bowler to have taken two ODI Hat-tricks in a career – Chaminda Vaas against Zimbabwe in 2001 and Bangladesh in 2003.
• First bowler to have taken three ODI Hat-tricks in a career – Lasith Malinga against South Africa in 2007, Kenya in 2011 and Australia in 2011.
• Only bowler to have taken 8 wickets in a ODI – Chaminda Vaas against Zimbabwe in 2001.

Twenty20 Matches

• World's First Bowler to take a 6 wicket haul in a Twenty20 match – Ajantha Mendis against Australia on 8 August 2011.
• Best bowling figures in a Twenty20 match – 6/16 by Ajantha Mendis against Australia on 8 August 2011.

World Cup Records by Sri Lanka

• Highest team total – 398/5 against Kenya in 1996.
• Highest opening partnership – 282 by Upul Tharanga (133) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (144) against Zimbabwe in 2011.

First 200 run opening stand in World Cup Cricket – 282 by Upul Tharanga (133) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (144) against Zimbabwe in 2011.

• Highet partnership (runs) – 282 for the first wicket by Upul Tharanga (133) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (144) against Zimbabwe.
• Most number of runs – Sanath Jayasuriya (1165) in 38 matches.
• Highest individual score – Aravinda de Silva (145) against Kenya in 1996.
• Most number of matches played – Muttiah Muralitharan (40).
• Best individual bowling – 6/25 by Chaminda Vaas against Bangladesh in 2003.
• Most number of dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Kumar Sangakkara (32) in 21 matches.
• Most number of wickets – Muttiah Muralitharan (68) in 40 matches.
• World's only bowler to take four wickets in four consecutive balls – Lasith Malinga against South Africa in 2007.
• World's only bowler to take two World Cup hat-tricks – Lasith Malinga against South Africa and Kenya in 2007 and 2011.^[7]
• First Sri Lankan bowler to take a World Cup Hat-trick – Chaminda Vaas against Bangladesh in 2003.
• World's only bowler to have taken a World Cup Hat-trick in the first three balls of a match – Chaminda Vaas against Bangladesh in 2003.
• Sri Lanka walked off with a 210-runs victory against Canada at Hambantota on 20 February 2011, the seventh largest in World Cup history.

Other Records

• The First Player to play in 400 matches – Sanath Jayasuriya.
• The Oldest Player to score a century – Sanath Jayasuriya, at 39 years and 212 days.

See also

Cricket portal

• Cricket in Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka women's cricket team
• List of Test Cricket Series against Sri Lanka

References

1. ^ "Ceylon v Marylebone Cricket Club in 1926/27". CricketArchive. http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/12/12189.html. Retrieved 2007-05-06. 
2. ^ "Patiala v Ceylon in 1932/33". CricketArchive. http://cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/14/14516.html. Retrieved 2007-05-06. 
3. ^ Cricinfo Test Team Records page retrieved on 11 May 2010
4. ^ "Profiles of injured Sri Lanka party members". BBC Sport website. 3 March 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7920748.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
5. ^ "Police dead, players hurt in Sri Lankan cricket ambush". The Daily Telegraph (Australia). 2009-03-03. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25133438-5001021,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
6. ^ "India vs Sri Lanka, The Final of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011". http://iccworld-cup2011.blogspot.com/2011/04/final-india-vs-sri-lanka-mumbai-2nd.html. 
7. ^ "Hat trick in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011". http://iccworld-cup2011.blogspot.com/2011/02/list-of-hat-tricks-in-world-cup-history_9837.html. 

External links

• Official Home of Sri Lanka Cricket
• Cricinfo – Sri Lanka
• SL Cricket – A Forum for Sri Lankan Cricket fans to be
• Island Cricket – A fan site dedicated to Sri Lankan Cricket powered by user generated media
• List of Cricketers
• Battle of the Maroons