Sri Lanka national cricket team

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Sri Lanka
Test status granted 1982
First Test match v England at Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, 17-21st February 1982
Captain Mahela Jayawardene
Coach Trevor Bayliss
Official ICC Test and ODI ranking 5th(Test), 7th (ODI) [1]
Test matches
- This year		 175
0
Last Test match v England at Galle International Stadium, Galle, 18-22nd Dec 2007
Wins/losses
- This year		 {{{win 3/loss record}}}
0/0
As of 19th January2008 [2]

The Sri Lankan cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1975, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing nation. The Sri Lankan team transformed themselves from the underdog status to a major cricketing nation during the 1990s. The team went on to take 1996 Cricket World Cup beating Australia in the finals, and becoming the World Champions. Since then, the team continued as a major force in international cricket, with ups and downs in certain periods. The Sri Lanka team did well to reach the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup but lost to Australia in a rain affected match to becomes the runners up. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva (retired), backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas has largely contributed the success of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years. It is administrated by Sri Lanka Cricket.

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.[1]

Contents

[edit] History of Sri Lankan international cricket

[edit] 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. [2] The team's first win came against Patiala at Dhruve Pandove Stadium in 1932-33. [3] 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.

[edit] Test status and beyond

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 overwhelmed with the team's tremendous performance at the NatWest Series, 2006. Although as a whole it missed its captain Marvan Atapattu and Muttiah Muralitharan; Sanath together with Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof played some fantastic innings. 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.

[edit] Tournament History

World Cup ICC Champions Trophy Asia Cup Australasia Cup Asian Test Championship Commonwealth Games ICC Trophy
  • 1998: Semi Finals
  • 2000: Quarter Finals
  • 2002: Joint winners with India
  • 2004: Preliminary Round
  • 2006: Main Round
  • 1998: Fourth place

[edit] Current Squad

Player Name Batting Style Bowling Style Shirt Numbers
Ishara Amerasinghe Right-hand bat Right-arm fast medium 54
Malinga Bandara Right-hand Bat Legbreak 72
Tillakaratne Dilshan Right-hand Bat Right-arm offbreak 18
Dilhara Fernando Right-hand Bat Right-arm fast medium 26
Sanath Jayasuriya - Retired from Tests Left-hand bat Slow Left-arm Orthodox 7
Mahela Jayawardene - Captain Right-hand bat Right-arm medium/ Legbreak 27
Prasanna Jayawardene Right-hand bat Wicketkeeper (Usually Tests) 3
Chamara Kapugedera Right-hand bat Right-arm medium 16
Nuwan Kulasekara Right-hand bat Right-arm fast medium 92
Kaushal Lokuarachchi Right-hand bat Legbreak 77
Farveez Maharoof Right-hand bat Right-arm fast medium 28
Lasith Malinga Right-hand bat Right-arm fast 99
Jehan Mubarak Left-Hand Bat Right-arm offbreak 42
Muttiah Muralitharan Right-hand bat Right-arm offbreak 8
Dilruwan Perera Right-hand bat Right-arm offbreak 15
Thilan Samaraweera Right-hand bat Right-arm offbreak 96
Kumar Sangakkara Left-hand bat Left-arm offbreak Wicketkeeper 11
Chamara Silva Right-hand bat Legbreak 5
Upul Tharanga Left-hand bat Occasional Wicketkeeper 14
Chaminda Vaas Left-hand bat Left-arm fast medium 22
Michael Vandort Left-hand bat Right-arm medium 19
Ruchira Perera Left-hand bat Left-arm medium-fast 19

[edit] Trivia

  • Sri Lanka is the only ICC Trophy winning team to have gone on to win the World Cup at a later date.
  • Sri Lanka is the only team to have participated in every edition of the Asia Cup.
  • Sri Lanka is the only host team to win a World Cup.

[edit] National Records by Sri Lanka (Country Specific)

Records are bold if it is a World Record.

[edit] Batting Records set by Sri Lanka

Test Matches

  • Highest team total - 952/6 against India in 1997.
  • Highest aggregate of runs- Mahela Jayawardene (7271) in 107 matches at an Average of 51.93
  • Most number of dismissals(includes wicket-keeping)- Kumar Sangakkara (166 dismissals) in 64 matches.

ODI Matches

  • Highest team total- 443/9 against Netherlands in July 2006.
  • Highest aggregate of runs- Sanath Jayasuriya (12,116) in 398 matches at an average of 33.12.
  • Most number of dismissals(includes wicket-keeping)- Kumar Sangakkara(229 dismissals) in 200 matches.

Twenty20 Matches

  • Highest team total - 260/6 against Kenya on 14th September 2007.
  • Highest wining margin - 172 runs against Kenya in 14th September 2007.

[edit] Bowling Records set by Sri Lanka

Test Matches

ODI Matches

  • Most Test Wickets - Muttiah Muralitharan ( broken in 2007 against England at home)

[edit] World Cup Records by Sri Lanka

  • Highest team total - 398/5 against Kenya in 1996.

- 183 for the third wicket by Asanka Gurusinha(84) and Aravinda de Silva(145) against Kenya in 1996.

  • Most number of dismissals (includes wicket-keeping)- Kumar Sangakkara(32) in 21 matches.

[edit] Miscellaneous information

  • The world's Highest total in a Test match: 952-6 vs India
  • The world's Highest score in a ODI match: 443-9 vs The Netherlands on the 4th of July 2006
  • The world's Highest score in a 20-20 match: 260-6 vs Kenya on the 14th of September 2007.
  • The world's Fastest ODI half-century was scored by Sanath Jayasuriya (17 balls).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cricinfo Test Team Records page retrieved on November 3, 2007
  2. ^ Ceylon v Marylebone Cricket Club in 1926/27. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2007-05-06.
  3. ^ Patiala v Ceylon in 1932/33. CricketArchive. Retrieved on 2007-05-06.

[edit] External links

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