Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and former 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 in international cricket history.
The 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 Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground is one of the most famous cricket grounds in Sri Lanka, and the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket, the controlling body of cricket in Sri Lanka. The ground is sometimes described as "the Lord's of Sri Lanka", It hosts the most domestic finals and is an important international cricket venue. The ground staged its first Test in 1984 against New Zealand and its first One Day International in 1982 against England. The Sri Lankan team has an impressive record here. Out of 38 Tests played at the SSC as of January 2015, Sri Lanka has won 18 matches, and drawn 14, with only 6 losses.
The Bangladeshi cricket team toured Sri Lanka for three One Day International cricket matches and two Test cricket matches in August and September 2005. The Bangladeshi team was coming off a moderately successful tour of England, as they had pushed Australia close in one ODI and beat them in another. However, they had still lost five out of six matches in the NatWest Series, both of the Test matches, and remained at the bottom of both the ICC Test Championship and ICC ODI Championship. The hosts Sri Lanka, meanwhile, were undefeated in home ODI tournaments since February 2004, and in home Test series since March 2004, both against top-ranked Australia. Their win in the Indian Oil Cup a month before this series saw them into second place in the ODI Championship, but they are only ranked sixth in Tests.
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga, commonly known as Upul Tharanga, is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, and a former limited over captain who played for all formats of the game. He is a left-handed opening batsman and occasional wicket-keeper. On 23 February 2021, Upul announced his retirement from international cricket.
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 South Africa national cricket team toured Sri Lanka for cricket matches in the 2006 cricket season. South Africa are scheduled to play two Test matches against Sri Lanka, one warm-up first class game over three days against Sri Lanka A, and at least four One Day Internationals as part of a triangular series. Sri Lanka took the Test series 2–0 after winning the final Test by one wicket, their second successive home Test series win against South Africa after their win in 2004.
The Sri Lankan cricket team toured New Zealand for cricket matches during the 2006–07 cricket season. It was the third successive season Sri Lanka visited New Zealand, after the 2005–06 tour was aborted and reschuled for the winter of 2005–06. Originally, the tour had been set to include three Tests and five One Day Internationals, but New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden announced in June that one of the Tests would be replaced with two Twenty20 Internationals.
The England cricket team toured Sri Lanka from 28 September to 22 December 2007. England made two trips to Sri Lanka in this tour with the ODI team arriving on 25 September before returning to England on 15 October. The Test team arrived on 15 November and stayed there for the remainder of the tour. The tour included three Test matches and five ODIs.
The Tri-Series in Bangladesh in 2010 was a One Day International cricket tournament for the Idea Cup which was held in Bangladesh from 4 January to 13 January 2010. The tournament involved the national teams of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The tournament was won by Sri Lanka who defeated India in the final match which was held on 13 January 2010.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup, which took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, featured 16 teams, who were divided into four groups. Group B was made up of full ICC members Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and associate member Bermuda. Sri Lanka won all three of their matches to finish top of the group and secure qualification for the Super Eights stage of the tournament. Bangladesh's victory over India in their opening match meant they finished as runners-up and joined Sri Lanka in the Super Eights, while India and Bermuda were knocked out. Sri Lanka went on to finish second in the Super Eights and then beat New Zealand in their semi-final before losing to Australia in the final.
The Sri Lankan cricket team toured South Africa from 9 December 2011 to 22 January 2012. The tour included three Tests and five One Day Internationals (ODIs) between Sri Lanka and South Africa.
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 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 2010 Asia Cup was the tenth edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was held in Sri Lanka from 15–24 June 2010. Only the test playing nations India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were taking part in the competition. India defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final to win a record 5th Asia Cup title.
