The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It was a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status until it was suspended, for 11 days, by the ICC on 10 November 2023. The suspension was lifted on 21 November 2023. The team first played international cricket in 1926–27 and became an associate member of the ICC in 1965. They were awarded the Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test cricket-playing nation. The team is administered by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara born 27 October 1977 is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka in 134 Test matches from 2000 to 2015, including fifteen as captain. In first-class cricket, he played for Nondescripts Cricket Club from 1997–98 to 2013–14 and for Surrey County Cricket Club from 2015 to 2017. He also played for numerous franchise teams. He was born in Matale, Central Province.
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan, commonly known as TM Dilshan is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is often regarded as the best rated Sri Lankan player in run-chases in ODI history and one of the most innovative players of all time. Dilshan is considered to be a rare example of a cricketer with notable skills in all aspects of the game, who can bat, bowl, field and keep wicket. He is an aggressive right-hand batsman who invented the scoop, which has come to be known as the Dilscoop, a shot that hits the ball over the keeper. Apart from being an opening batsman, he is also a capable off-break bowler. Energetic in the field, he usually fielded at the point region. He was part of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
Kulasekara Mudiyanselage Dinesh Nuwan Kulasekara is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played all formats of the game. He was educated at Bandaranayake College Gampaha
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene is a former professional cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. He is the current consultant coach of the Sri Lankan national team and the head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen from Sri Lankan cricket.
The R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium(RPS) (Sinhala: ආර්. ප්රේමදාස ක්රීඩාංගනය, Tamil: ஆர். பிரேமதாச அரங்கம்; formerly known as Khettarama Stadium) is a cricket stadium on Khettarama Road, in the Maligawatta suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The stadium was, before June 1994, known as the Khettarama Cricket Stadium and is today one of the main venues where the Sri Lankan cricket team play, having hosted more than 100 one-day international matches. It is the largest stadium in Sri Lanka with a capacity of 35,000 spectators. It has hosted the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final between Sri Lanka and West Indies; the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy final between Sri Lanka and India and first semi-final of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. This was where the highest Test score in history was recorded; 952 by Sri Lanka against India. With capacity exceeding Lord's in England, the stadium is known as the "home of Sri Lankan cricket".
Angelo Davis Mathews is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain in all formats. Even though he represented Sri Lanka in all three formats, Mathews currently plays Test cricket and ODI cricket for Sri Lanka. He was also a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the finals of 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. An occasional bowler who can deliver swinging match-winning spells, Mathews and Lasith Malinga hold the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI cricket. In July 2022, Mathews played in his 100th Test match for Sri Lanka. As captain, Mathews led his national team to be the winners of the 2014 Asia Cup. On 7 November 2023, Mathews became the first player in the history of international cricket to be declared timed out without facing a delivery, as it happened during a group stage match between Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh at the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.
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 event in South Africa in September 2007. As before, the tournament featured 12 male teams – nine of the ten Test-playing nations and three associate nations, which earned their places through a qualification tournament. Matches were played at three English grounds – Lord's and The Oval in London, and Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The tournament was organised in parallel with the women's tournament, with the men's semi-finals and final being preceded by the semi-finals and final from the women's event. The final took place at Lord's on Sunday 21 June with Pakistan beating Sri Lanka by eight wickets and England beating New Zealand by six wickets in the women's final.
International cricket in 2009 is defined as the season of international cricket between May and August 2009 in all cricket playing countries, as well as all international matches scheduled for the 2009 English cricket season. Matches between September 2008 and March 2009 are defined as belonging to the 2008–09 season, while matches between September 2009 and March 2010 will fall under the 2009–10 season.
The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third Men's T20 World Cup competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the final. Kevin Pietersen was named as player of the tournament.
The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 14 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. The International Cricket Council announced Bangladesh as host in 2010. It was the second consecutive time that an Asian country hosted the event, with Sri Lanka hosting the previous tournament in 2012. Sri Lanka won the 2014 tournament, beating India by 6 wickets in the final at Mirpur.
The 2011 Cricket World Cup Final was the final match of the 2011 Men's Cricket World Cup, the 10th edition of ICC's championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The match was played between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India on Saturday 2 April 2011. It was the first time that two Asian teams had faced each other in an ODI World Cup final. India won the match by six wickets—its second World Cup win after the 1983 tournament—and became the third team to have won the title more than once, after Australia and the West Indies. India became the first country to win Cricket World Cup in their own country.
The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC World Twenty20, the world championship of Twenty20 International cricket. It was held in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016, and was the first edition to be hosted by India.
Play in the Super 10s stage of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 took place from 21 March to 1 April 2014. The top eight Full Member nations in the ICC T20I Championship rankings as of 8 October 2012 automatically progressed to the Super 10 stage of 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
The Knockout stage of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 took place from 3 April to 6 April 2014. Defending champions the West Indies were knocked out in the first semi-final, while India defeated South Africa in the second semi-final.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup was first held in 2007. It was first decided that every two years an ICC T20 World Cup tournament is to take place, except in the event of an ICC Cricket World Cup being scheduled in the same year, in which case it will be held the year before. The first tournament was in 2007 in South Africa where India defeated Pakistan in the final. Two Associate teams had played in the first tournament, selected through the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division One, a 50-over competition. In December 2007 it was decided to hold a qualifying tournament with a 20-over format to better prepare the teams. With six participants, two would qualify for the 2009 World Twenty20 and would each receive $250,000 in prize money. The second tournament was won by Pakistan who beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in England on 21 June 2009. The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 tournament was held in West Indies in May 2010, where England defeated Australia by 7 wickets. The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was won by the West-Indies, by defeating Sri Lanka at the finals. For the first time, a host nation competed in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. There were 12 participants for the title including Ireland and Afghanistan as 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. It was the first time the World Twenty20 tournament took place in an Asian country. Pakistan was the only team to reach the last four in the first four editions of the tournament. 2014 saw the expansion to 16 teams featuring three teams making their debuts. Sri Lanka yet again made it to the Finals this time winning after their two other appearances in previous finals. The ICC Men's T20 World Cup has had five champions from six tournaments.
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Final was played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the Lord's in London on 21 June 2009. This was the 2nd ICC World Twenty20. Pakistan won the match by eight wickets, its first World Twenty20 victory, after being the runners-up at the very previous tournament in 2007 Pakistan became the 2nd team to win this title after India. This was the second consecutive time where both the finalists were Asian teams. In the stadium, the match was watched by 28,000 spectators and almost 32 million people watched it on TV.
The History of the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing first-class cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team had achieved associate member status of the International Cricket Council in 1965. Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, the national team first competed in top level international cricket in 1975, when they played against West Indies during 1975 Cricket World Cup; West Indies won the match by 9 wickets at Old Trafford, Manchester, England.
The 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the eighth ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. It was played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022. In the final, England beat Pakistan by five wickets to win their second ICC Men's T20 World Cup title. Sam Curran was named the Player of the match and also the Player of the tournament.
