by Rex Clementine  

This week we celebrated 41 years of Test cricket having played our inaugural Test match in 1982 on the 17th of February. Over the years we have gone onto earn the admiration and respect of rest of the cricketing world for the sheer brilliance, creativity and innovativeness with which we have played the game. The Sri Lankan brand of cricket has challenged the way the game has been played and has added excitement and entertainment over the last 41 years.

Mind you it took India 20 years to win their first Test match. The Kiwis needed 26 years while we won our first Test in a mere three years in 1985. In between, they dazzled at Lord’s in 1984 in their first visit to the Home of Cricket and nearly made India eat humble pie in the Madras Test of 1982 in what was the teams inaugural meeting with Duleep Mendis making twin hundreds.

Over the last 41 years, Sri Lanka have made their presence felt in the game. The highest wicket taker in Test cricket is a Sri Lankan with Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800 scalps pretty hard to beat.

The world record for the highest total in Test cricket also belongs to Sri Lanka with Arjuna Ranatunga’s men posting 952 for six declared in 1997. That was a Test match where Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar conceded that he hadn’t seen Bradman but he had seen Jayasuriya.

The opener posted 340 in that innings and hence Sri Lanka had a triple centurion in Test cricket before India, South Africa or New Zealand had one.

South Africa who started playing Test cricket in 1889 only had a triple centurion in Tests 123 years later when Hashim Amla got there in 2012.  India, who started playing Test cricket in 1932 only had a triple centurion in Tests 72 years later in 2004 when Virender Sehwag reached the milestone while New Zealand who entered the Test arena in 1930 ended the jinx 84 years later in 2014 thanks to Brendon McCullum.

Well, it took Sri Lanka only 15 years to have a triple centurion in Test cricket. The game of Test cricket has been played for nearly 150 years now and the two highest partnerships in the game belong to Sri Lankans. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene added 624 runs for the third wicket against South Africa in 2006 while Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama added 576 runs for the second wicket in 1997 against India.

Consistency has been the hallmark of Sri Lankan cricket. There have been rough patches but those have been not extended ones. Although the team has done well overseas winning in England, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies, their record in India and Australia have been found wanting as they have not won a Test match so far in those countries.

Beyond the playing field, Sri Lankans have made an impact in the game as well with former captain Kumar Sangakkara going onto become the first non British President of the MCC.

Ranjan Madugalle has been an ICC Match Referee since 1991 and in 2002 was appointed Chief Match Referee. In 2018, Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to pass laws in parliament making corruption in cricket a crime. The game’s reputation had suffered a blow after several individuals were entangled in sting operations to expose corruption in cricket. Any person who attempts to corrupt cricket now faces a jail term.