Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is also the current consultant coach of Sri Lanka national cricket team. Mahela is the most successful captain for Sri Lanka along with Sanath Jayasuriya. During the time of his captaincy, he was known mainly for his tactical acumen for decades and was rewarded for his captaincy instincts.
West Indies cricket team toured Sri Lanka for two Test matches and an ODI tri-series in July and August 2005. West Indies were severely depleted owing to a contract dispute, which led to players like Brian Lara, Chris Gayle and Corey Collymore refusing to play. Thus, Sri Lanka went into the series as even more overwhelming favourites, their strong game at home and West Indies' poor form – with only one Test win in the last ten attempts. And they confirmed their favourite status, winning both Tests in rather emphatic style, although their batting showed worrying weaknesses against West Indian bowlers who bowled with more heart than talent at times.
The Indian Oil Cup 2005 was a three-team One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka between 30 July and 7 August 2005. The participating teams were hosts Sri Lanka, and India and West Indies. Sri Lanka won the tournament beating India by 18 runs in the final.
The ICC Super Series 2005 was a cricket series held in Australia during October 2005, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was played between Australia, the world's top-ranked side at the time, and a World XI team of players selected from other countries. The series consisted of three One Day Internationals and one Test match. Australia won all four matches.
The 2005–06 edition of the VB Series was a three-team One Day International men's cricket tournament held in Australia in January and February 2006, between the hosting nation's team, South Africa and Sri Lanka.. The teams played each other four with five points awarded for a win and a possible bonus point awarded either to the winners or losers depending on run rate. The top two teams on points went through to the best-of-three finals series. All matches were day-night matches except the final meeting between South Africa and Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka toured England for cricket matches during the 2006 international cricket season. England were back home for the first time since September and looked to maintain their Test standards, which saw them keep their second place in the ICC Test Championship in India, and the teams were also competing for sixth place in the ICC ODI Championship as both England and Sri Lanka were coming off the back of two lost ODI tours on the Asian sub-continent, against India and Pakistan respectively. To add to problems, both teams were likely to be missing some key members of the team as England were without some of their squad for their previous tour and, two days before Sri Lanka departed for England, it was revealed that skipper Marvan Atapattu would stay at home for the tour due to back problems that had forced him to skip his previous tour too. Jehan Mubarak was brought in as his replacement.
The India cricket team toured Sri Lanka between 18 July and 2 September 2001. The two sides played a triangular ODI series also involving New Zealand, following which they played a three-match Test series. India's tour also included a one-day and a three-day fixture ahead of the ODI and Test series respectively.
The 2004 ICC Awards were held at Alexandra Palace in London, England on 7 September 2004. They were the inaugural episode and were aimed at recognizing the best individual and team performances of the previous year.
The 2008–09 international cricket season was between September 2008 and March 2009. The season saw the security concerns for cricket in Pakistan reach a pinnacle. The ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September 2008, was postponed to 2009 after five of the participating nations refused to send their teams for the event. In November 2008, a Pakistani militant group launched terror attacks in Mumbai. This led to India cancelling their tour of Pakistan originally scheduled for January and February 2009. Sri Lanka agreed to tour Pakistan in place of India but the tour was jeopardised by a terror attack in Lahore where gunmen fired at a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team, injuring six members of the team. The Champions Trophy was later relocated to South Africa and no international cricket were played in Pakistan for more than five years. This period of isolation ended when Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in May 2015. After successfully hosting few T20Is against World-XI, Sri Lanka cricket team and the West Indians from 2017 to 2018, few matches of Pakistan Super League from 2017 to 2019, whole season in 2020 as well as hosting complete tours against Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi cricket teams respectively during the 2019–20 season, built good reputation of Pakistan. Hence, by the end of 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board, announced that they would no longer play any of their future home matches at a neutral venue, indicating that International Cricket has returned to the country on full-time basis.
The Indian cricket team toured Sri Lanka from 28 January to 10 February 2009. The tour included five ODIs and one T20I. India won the ODI series 4-1 and also the T20I.
The 2009 ICC Awards were held on 1 October 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa before the semi-finals of 2009 ICC Champions Trophy. Nominations were announced in Mumbai in early September while short lists were announced on 15 September. These awards were given on the performance of the players between 13 August 2008 and 24 August 2009 and were presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA). Performances from both players and officials were taken into account during this period of time for the game.
The 2010 international cricket season was between May and August 2010. The season included a spot-fixing scandal involving the Pakistan team that resulted in three Pakistani cricketers being banned by the International Cricket Council and given prison sentences.
The 2010 ICC Awards were held on 6 October 2010 in Bangalore, India in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).
The 2012 ICC Awards were held on 15 September 2012 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The ICC had been hosting ICC Awards since 2004, which were now into their ninth year. Previous events were held in London, Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg, Dubai (2008) and Bangalore (2010). The ICC awards the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy to the Cricketer of the Year, which is considered to be the most prestigious award in world cricket.
The Sri Lankan cricket team toured Australia from 6 December 2012 to 28 January 2013. The tour consisted of three Tests, five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). Tests were played for the Warne–Muralidaran Trophy. The Test series was preceded by a match against the Cricket Australia Chairman's XI and Sri Lankans.
The 2006 ICC Awards were held on 3 November 2006 in Mumbai, India. The annual awards had been instigated in London in 2004 and in 2005 they were announced in Sydney. They were sponsored by Hyundai and conducted during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. For the first time, honours for both Captain of the Year and Women's Cricketer of the Year were awarded.
The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was a cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka in 2002. It was the third edition of the ICC Champions Trophy – the first two having been known as the ICC Knock Out Tournaments. The tournament was due to be held in India, but was switched to Sri Lanka when an exemption from tax in India was not granted. Fifteen matches were to be played in the tournament including two semi-finals and a final match.[1] All the matches were played in Colombo at two grounds: R. Premadasa Stadium and Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. It was the first time that the teams of all International Cricket Council (ICC) member nations visited Sri Lanka to participate in a cricket tournament.[1]
The 2005 ICC Awards were held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia on 11 October 2005. The judging period covered was from 1 August 2004 to 31 July 2005. This did not include the whole of the 2005 Ashes series, since the final four matches of this series were played in August and September. In association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA), the awards were presented by Hyundai at a function during the Super Series between champions Australia and the ICC World XI.
The 2008 ICC Awards were held on 10 September 2008 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Previous events were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006) and Johannesburg (2007). The ICC had been hosting ICC Awards since 2004 and was into its fifth year. They were presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and honours for the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year were also awarded for the first time. The ICC awards the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy to the Cricketer of the Year, which is considered to be the most prestigious award in world cricket.
Ricky Ponting 
Mohammad Yousuf 
