History of cricket in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka national cricket team has played Test cricket from 1982. Domestic first-class cricket began in 1988.

Contents [hide] 1 Beginnings 2 Early developments 3 Domestic cricket 3.1 Premier Trophy 3.2 Premier Limited Overs Tournament 3.3 Leading players by season 3.3.1 Batsmen 3.3.2 Bowlers 4 International cricket 5 Pre-Test era International tours of Sri Lanka 5.1 Australia 5.2 England 5.3 India 5.3.1 1945 5.3.2 1956-57 5.3.3 1973-74 5.4 New Zealand 5.4.1 1984-85 5.5 Pakistan 5.5.1 1948-49 5.5.2 1972-73 5.5.3 1975-76 5.5.4 1978-79 5.6 West Indies 5.6.1 1948-49 5.6.2 1966-67 5.6.3 1974-75 5.6.4 1978-79 5.7 Zimbabwe 5.7.1 1983-84 5.8 Multi-national teams 5.8.1 1930-31 5.8.2 1949-50 5.8.3 1950-51 5.8.4 1967-68 6 Test, ODI & T20 series 6.1 Test 6.2 One-day International 6.3 Twenty20 7 See also 8 References 8.1 Further reading 9 External links

[edit] Beginnings

Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, has an age-old civilisation. It came under European influence and control after Dutch colonists arrived in the 17th century; although the interior hilly region of the island remained independent for over a century with its capital at Kandy. The British East India Company established control of the island in 1796, using war with France as its excuse for commandeering Dutch territory. Ceylon was declared a Crown Colony in 1802, but the island was never to be officially connected with British India. The fall of the kingdom of Kandy in 1815 unified the island under British rule.
As everywhere that the British arrived in numbers, cricket soon followed and it is reasonable to assume that the game was first played on the island by 1800.
Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972.

[edit] Early developments

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 when it played against the 97th Regiment^[1].
In October 1882, Ivo Bligh's team played an odds game in Colombo^[2] en route to Australia, where they famously "recovered those Ashes". In 1888-89, an English team led by George Vernon toured Ceylon and India, including an 11-a-side game against All-Ceylon at Kandy. In 1890, the Australian team en route to England played in Colombo.
First-class cricket in Ceylon became restricted to games against visiting touring teams, notably the English and Australian teams who used Ceylon as a stopover on the long voyage to each other's country. Douglas Jardine's infamous "bodyline team" was there in 1932-33. Occasionally, teams representative of Ceylon played matches abroad, especially in India.
From 1953-4 until 1975-6, the Ceylon Cricket Association played a first-class match against Madras (latterly renamed Tamil Nadu) for the Gopalan Trophy. This fixture was played in Colombo roughly every two years, with one further fixture in 1982-3, alternating with the fixture being held in Madras.

[edit] Domestic cricket

[edit] Premier Trophy

Main article: Premier Trophy

In 1938, the first domestic competition was established when 12 teams competed for the Daily News Trophy^[3]. The tournament's title was changed to the P Saravanamuttu Trophy in 1950-51 and then the Robert Senanayake Trophy in 1976-77. After Sri Lanka began playing Test cricket in 1982, the inevitable sponsors came on board and the tournament was rebranded as the Lakspray Trophy for the 1988-89 season when, for the first time, it was designated first-class.
Subsequently, the title of P Saravanamuttu Trophy was resurrected from 1990 and since 1998 it has been called the Premier Trophy.
The Sinhalese Sports Club has won the tournament a record 29 times to 2006.
For a full list of winners from 1938, see : Premier Trophy.

[edit] Premier Limited Overs Tournament

Main article: Premier Limited Overs Tournament

The first limited overs cricket tournament in Sri Lanka was the Brown's Trophy in 1988-89^[4]. Only four teams competed in the inaugural competition: Sinhalese Sports Club (winners); Nondescripts Cricket Club (runners-up); Galle Cricket Club; Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club. The tournament was renamed the Hatna Trophy in 1990-91 and then given its current name Premier Limited Overs Tournament in 1998-99.
The competition to date has been dominated by three teams: Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club has won five times; Sinhalese Sports Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club have won four times each.
For a full list of winners from 1988, see : Premier Limited Overs Tournament.

[edit] Leading players by season

The lists below give the leading runscorers and wicket–takers in each domestic season.

[edit] Batsmen

• 1988–89 – DSBP Kuruppu – 339 @ 113.00 (HS 126)
• 1989–90 – WAA Wasantha – 519 @ 57.66 (HS 134)
• 1990–91 – UNK Fernando – 656 @ 65.60 (HS 160)
• 1991–92 – MC Mendis – 551 @ 78.71 (HS 177*)
• 1992–93 – PA de Silva – 591 @ 53.72 (HS 143)
• 1993–94 – MAR Samarasekera – 701 @ 50.07 (HS 191)
• 1994–95 – MS Atapattu – 1302 @ 93.00 (HS 181)
• 1995–96 – RP Arnold – 1430 @ 79.44 (HS 217*)
• 1996–97 – RS Kaluwitharana – 1172 @ 73.25 (HS 179)
• 1997–98 – MS Atapattu – 868 @ 96.44 (HS 223)
• 1998–99 – TM Dilshan – 1027 @ 51.35 (HS 194)
• 1999–00 – DA Gunawardene – 711 @ 41.82 (HS 140)
• 2000–01 – RPAH Wickramaratne – 830 @ 51.87 (HS 139)
• 2001–02 – DPMD Jayawardene – 1426 @ 89.12 (HS 274)
• 2002–03 – SKL de Silva – 938 @ 42.63 (HS 133)
• 2003–04 – TM Dilshan – 1284 @ 51.36 (HS 151)
• 2004–05 – S Kalavitigoda – 885 @ 49.16 (HS 152)
• 2005–06 – WMG Ramyakumara – 993 @ 62.06 (HS 150*)
• 2006–07 – BARS Priyadarshana – 822 @ 43.26 (HS 140)
• 2007–08 – NT Paranavitana – 1059 @ 81.46 (HS 236)
• 2008–09 – AD Mathews – 1038 @ 79.84 (HS 270)
• 2009–10 –AD MATHEWS

[edit] Bowlers

• 1988–89 – SD Anurasiri – 24 @ 13.12 (BB 8–53)
• 1989–90 – KPJ Warnaweera – 71 @ 13.47 (BB 7–16)
• 1990–91 – FS Ahangama – 39 @ 14.89 (BB 5–44)
• 1991–92 – GP Wickramasinghe – 38 @ 13.10 (BB 10–41)
• 1992–93 – CM Hathurusingha – 35 @ 16.65 (BB 8–40)
• 1993–94 – AMN Munasinghe – 46 @ 16.43 (BB 9–38)
• 1994–95 – SD Anurasiri – 78 @ 15.67 (BB 8–90)
• 1995–96 – M Jayasena – 67 @ 21.41 (BB 5–72)
• 1996–97 – ADB Ranjith – 70 @ 16.40 (BB 9–29)
• 1997–98 – UC Hathurusingha – 35 @ 16.17 (BB 7–55)
• 1998–99 – PP Wickramasinghe – 76 @ 13.01 (BB 8–47)
• 1999–00 – D Hettiarachchi – 55 @ 15.09 (BB 5–20)
• 2000–01 – S Weerakoon – 80 @ 12.97 (BB 7–51)
• 2001–02 – M Muralitharan – 87 @ 13.47 (BB 9–51)
• 2002–03 – PN Ranjith – 69 @ 17.10 (BB 6–27)
• 2003–04 – M Muralitharan – 96 @ 14.40 (BB 7–46)
• 2004–05 – S Weerakoon – 52 @ 20.80 (BB 7–81)
• 2005–06 – SADU Indrasiri – 60 @ 13.55 (BB 7–61)
• 2006–07 – RMGK Sirisoma – 60 @ 15.50 (BB 7–42)
• 2007–08 – BAW Mendis – 68 @ 10.51 (BB 7–37)
• 2008–09 – S Weerakoon – 71 @ 20.35 (BB 7–40) and S Prasanna – 71 @ 20.70 (BB 8–59)
• 2009–10 –