The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 International (T20I) status. The team first played first class cricket in 1926–27 and became an associate member of the ICC in 1965. They made their international debut in the 1975 Cricket World Cup and were later 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 is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. 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. Sangakkara is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He was a key part of the Sri Lankan squads which won the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship, 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and 2014 T20 World Cup.
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. He was the top run scorer in the 2011 Cricket World Cup with 500 runs, and scored a century against England in the quarter-final. 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.
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national cricket team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen from Sri Lankan cricket.
The Providence Stadium or Guyana National Stadium is a sports stadium in Guyana, replacing Bourda as the national stadium. The stadium was built specifically to host Super Eight matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup held in March and April 2007.
The 2007 ICC World Twenty20 was the inaugural edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20 that was contested in South Africa from 11 to 24 September 2007. Twelve teams took part in the thirteen-day tournament—the ten Test-playing nations and the finalists of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament: Kenya and Scotland. India won the tournament, beating Pakistan in the final.
Angelo Davis Mathews is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the national cricket team in all formats. Mathews plays all formats for Sri Lanka. Mathews was a 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. Mathews and Lasith Malinga hold the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI cricket.
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was the second edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20 that took place in England in June 2009. 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.
The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 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. This was the first ICC World Twenty20 where the use of Decision Review System (DRS) was implemented. 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 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 the Cricket World Cup in their own country.
The final of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was played on 28 April 2007 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados. Australia defeated Sri Lanka by 53 runs to win their 4th World Cup and 3rd in succession.
The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 International cricket tournament that was held in India from 8 March to 3 April 2016, and was the first edition to be hosted by India.
The final of the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy was played on 23 June 2013 between the England and India at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham.This was the 7th ICC Champions Trophy. India won the match by 5 runs England qualified into the final by defeating South Africa in the first semi-final at The Oval, London on 19 June 2013. India made their way into the final after defeating Sri Lanka in the second semi-final played at SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff on 20 June 2013. The match was delayed almost six hours due to rain and started at 16:20 local time, and the match was reduced to 20 overs per innings. So all the rules of this match were the same as a Twenty20 game. It was India's 2nd ICC Champions Trophy championship after the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. But they had to share the honour with Sri Lanka since this was a joint championship winning. So this was the first time when India won that title individually. In addition India became the second team after Australia to win the ICC Champions Trophy more than one time. Ravindra Jadeja earned the man of the match award for scoring 33 runs and taking 2 wickets in the match. Shikhar Dhawan was named the man of the series for scoring 363 runs in the tournament.
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 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Final was played between Sri Lanka and West Indies at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on 7 October 2012. This was the 4th ICC World Twenty20. West Indies won the match by 36 runs, its first World Twenty20 victory. This was West Indies's first major trophy since the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. West Indies became the 4th team to win this title after India, Pakistan and England. This was the first time where a host team (SL) qualified for the final. In the stadium, the match was watched by 38,000 spectators.
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 final was a Twenty20 International cricket match played at MCG in Melbourne, Australia on 13 November 2022 to determine the winner of the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. It was played between England and Pakistan, with both the teams eyeing their second ICC Men's T20 World Cup title. England won the match by 5 wickets to win the title for the second time. Having also won the 2019 Cricket World Cup Final, England became the first men's team to hold the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup titles at the same time.
