Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for

cricket in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is one of the twelve nations that take part in Test cricket and one of the six nations that has won a cricket World Cup. Cricket is played at professional, semi-professional and recreational levels in the country and international cri ...

. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan

Ministry of Sports A ministry of sports or ministry of youth and sports is a kind of government Ministry (government department), ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young peopl ...

as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national sports body. The board was renamed in 2003. The SLC operates all of the Sri Lankan national representative cricket sides, including the Men's,

Women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

, Under-19 and Under-17 sides. The SLC is also responsible for organising and hosting Test tours and

one day international One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s with other nations, and scheduling the home international fixtures.

History

Cricket was brought to the nation when it was colonized by the British. 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. 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 The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket. Hi ...

was formed soon afterwards and matches began in November 1833 when it played against the 97th Regiment. Throughout the 20th century, the game became increasingly popular in Sri Lanka. It was in the 1975 inaugural Cricket World Cup that they made their international debut. They lost to the West Indies by 9 wickets. They did however turn heads at the same tournament with an excellent display in their match against Australia. The

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

won the

ICC Trophy The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification pro ...

in 1979. On 21 July 1981, Sri Lanka was admitted to full membership of the ICC and was awarded Test Match status. The inaugural Test was played at the

Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium (Tamil language, Tamil: பாக்கியசோதி சரவணமுத்து மைதானம், ) Colombo Oval or P. Sara or simply PSS is a multi-purpose stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is curr ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

in February 1982 against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

but Sri Lanka lost by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka won the

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

by defeating Australia. Sri Lanka won the

2014 ICC World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth edition of the 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 t ...

by defeating India. In 2023, SLC faced accusations of corruption and declining standards, with Minister for Sports Roshan Ranasinghe having considered its board to be "traitorous and corrupt". After being eliminated from the

2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup was the 13th edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted from 5 October to 19 ...

, Ranasinghe called for the resignation of the SLC board. On 6 November 2023, after the board's secretary Mohan De Silva resigned, Ranasinghe removed the entire SLC board and replaced them with a seven-member interim committee led by

Arjuna Ranatunga Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga (; ; born 1 December 1963), is a Sri Lankan politician and former cricketer, who was the 1996 Cricket World Cup winning captain for Sri Lanka, and scored the winning boundary in the final. He is regarded as the pion ...

—captain of Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup team. The next day, in response to a petition by the board's president Shammi Silva, the

Appeal Court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellate ...

ruled that the previous board was to be reinstated for a period of two weeks pending hearings. On 10 November 2023, the ICC suspended SLC for failing to meet "the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration". While the board of the ICC ruled that the suspension would not affect Sri Lanka's day-to-day participation in international cricket, the country was stripped of its rights to host the

2024 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2024 ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), that was held in South Africa from 19 January to 11 February 2024. It was the fifteenth edit ...

. On 28 January 2024, the ICC lifted the suspension, after its board ruled that SLC were no longer in breach of membership obligations.

Domestic competitions

Sri Lanka Cricket oversees the progress and handling of the major domestic competitions in the country: * T10 # Lanka T10 * T20 #

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was int ...

*First Class # Major League Tournament # National Super League 4-Day Tournament *List A #

Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament The Major Clubs Limited Over Tournament is the main domestic limited overs cricket competition in Sri Lanka.It was established in 2020–21 and has existed under four different names.replacing the Premier Limited Overs Tournament, after Sri Lanka ...

# National Super League Limited Over Tournament They also organize and host the Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament, a competition focusing on provincial-level teams with pooled talent rather than on individual cricket clubs.

Former Competitions

Premier Limited Overs Tournament The Premier Limited Overs Tournament (currently known as AIA Premier Limited Overs Tournament for sponsorship reasons) is the main domestic limited overs cricket competition in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Repub ...

*SLC Invitational T20 League *

Sri Lanka Premier League The Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) was a Twenty20 cricket competition in Sri Lanka. It was intended to be the premier Twenty20 league in the country, held by Sri Lanka Cricket, when it replaced the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 competition. Af ...

(2012) * SLC Twenty20 Tournament *SLC T20 League(2018) * Super T20 Provincial Tournament * Sri Lanka Cricket Super 4's T20(2013-2014)

Leadership

Presidents

Vice-Presidents

* Killi Rajamahendran (Early 1980s) *

Shelley Wickramasinghe Shelley Wickramasinghe (1926–10 August 2011) was a Sri Lankan cricketer. He studied at the Kalutara Vidyalaya. From 1972 to 2000, he represented Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club and served as its president three times. Wickramasinghe ...

(mid-1980s) * Thilanga Sumathipala *

Aravinda de Silva Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (, ; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, regarded as one of the best Sri Lankan cricketers, he played in the team as an all-rounder. De Silva was a key member of the Sri L ...

(2003–2004) * K. Mathivanan *

Asanga Seneviratne Asanga Chandana Seneviratne (born May 1965) is a Sri Lankan entrepreneur, investor and former national sportsman. He is the founder and managing director of Anilana Hotels & Properties PLC, a leading hotel and resort chain in Sri Lanka. He curr ...

* Jayantha Dharmadasa (2016–Present) * K. Mathivanan (2016–2019) *

Ravin Wickramaratne Ravin Wickramaratne (born 9 April 1962) is a Sri Lankan former cricketer. He played in one List A and nineteen first-class matches from 1989 to 1993. After his playing career, he became the Vice-President of Sri Lanka Cricket, and the tournament ...

(2019–Present)

Secretaries

* Kushil Gunasekara (2002) * Mohan de Silva (2003) * Lourence Amarasena (2004) * S. Liyanagama * Michael de Zoysa *

Nishantha Ranatunga Nishantha Ranatunga (born 22 January 1966) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played two One Day Internationals in 1993. An all-rounder of note in domestic cricket, he is the brother of former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanjeeva Ranatu ...

(March 2009 – July 2011) *

(2012–2015) * Mohan de Silva (2016–2023)

Assistant Secretaries

(2004) * Hirvanamuthu Kulendran *

(2016–2019) * Chryshantha Kapuwatta (2019-Present)

Treasurers

* Tryphon Miranda (2002) * Nuski Mohamed (2004) * Sujeewa Rajapakshe (January 2008 – July 2011) * Nuski Mohamed (2012–2013) * Shammi Silva (2016–2019) * Lasantha Wickramasinghe (2019-2022) * Sujeewa Godaliyadda (2023-Present)

Assistant Treasurers

* Lucien Merinnage (2004) * Ajith Sivasamy (2012–2013) * Shammi Silva (2014–2015) * Lalith Rambukwella (2016–2019) * Sujeewa Godaliyadda (2019-2022) * Lasantha Wickramasinghe (2023-Present)

References

External links

Official website
{{Asian Cricket Council 1975 establishments in Sri Lanka Sports organizations established in 1975 Cricket governing bodies Cricket in Sri Lanka Cric