Sports
Sri Lanka after 41 years of Test cricket
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.
An ODI between Canada and Netherlamds in King City Toronto on Tuesday was abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. The fixture was part of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition, which is part of the qualification pathway for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The match was abandoned just 4.1 overs into the Netherlands innings after they had chosen to bat. They were 15 for 1, with Max O’Dowd the batter dismissed for a duck in the second over. The pitch had uneven bounce and the batters were struck several times during the short passage of play.
On June 12, four days before the abandoned match, the ICC had issued a statement saying the pitch at King City that was used for an ODI between USA and the Netherlands on June 8 had been given an “unsatisfactory” rating and one demerit point.
“This was a pitch that fell below the standard expected for this level of cricket,” match referee Phil Thompson had said about the surface for the USA-Netherlands match. “Both captains expressed disappointment with how it turned out, and the match officials assessed it as ‘very poor’. The inconsistent bounce created challenging and potentially unsafe playing conditions. Taking all factors into consideration, I believe the pitch merits an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating.”
According to the ICC’s pitch and outfield monitoring process, pitches that get an “unsatisfactory” rating will be given one demerit point, while an “unfit” pitch rating will result in three demerit points for the venue. Demerit points remain active for a rolling five-year period, and an accumulation of six demerit points will result in the venue being suspended from hosting international matches for 12 months (12 demerit points will lead to a 24-month ban).
(Cricinfo)
Joshua Da Silva and Amir Jangoo have earned recalls to West Indies’ squad for the two-match World Test Championship series at home against Sri Lanka starting later this month, while the two Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar, are back after missing the tours of India and New Zealand late last year because of injuries.
Trevin Imalch had kept wicket when West Indies last played Test cricket, in New Zealand last December, but Da Silva, 33 Test matches old, has returned after scoring 996 runs across the last two seasons of the West Indies Championship. Imlach, who failed with the bat in New Zealand with a total of 81 runs across six innings – after scoring 33 runs in his only Test in India – has been named captain of a West Indies Select XI to play the Sri Lankans in a tour match in Coolidge from June 18 to 21. Roston Chase will continue to captain the Test side.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka Tests
Jangoo, dropped after only one Test appearance, in Multan in January 2025, where he scored 0 and 30, has returned to the side following a fruitful WI Championship in which he scored 411 runs in seven innings. He finished second on the scorers’ table there, only behind Da Silva, who scored 413 in seven outing. The highlight of Jangoo’s season was the 203 not out he scored for Trinidad & Tobago against Leeward Islands
The pair of Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph, meanwhile, last played Test cricket during the home series against Australia in mid-2025.”Every Test series is an opportunity for us to grow as a team and strengthen our identity,” Darren Sammy, the head coach, said in a Cricket West Indies statement. “Sri Lanka are a quality side, so we know we’ll have to be at our best, but we’re excited about the challenge ahead.”For us, it’s about playing with discipline, showing character when the game gets tough, and representing the West Indies with pride. The players have been putting in the work, and we’re looking forward to putting on a strong display for our fans across the Caribbean.”
Some of the squad members are currently participating in a high-performance training camp in Antigua, which began on June 12 and will run till June 22. The members of the Test squad who were also part of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka – West Indies lost the ODIs and won the T20Is – will join the camp on June 15. The Tests will be played in North Sound from June 25 to 29 and July 3 to 7.
“This is a key component of our preparations heading into the series, providing players and coaches with valuable time to enhance and improve the skills we want to see sharpened, based on the areas we need to focus our attention on when facing this opponent,” Sammy said about the camp. “It also gives us the opportunity to put clear objectives and plans in place for the conclusion of the summer against Pakistan.
“Additionally, the four-day warm-up game prior to the series provides the chance for some of our Test hopefuls to play in high-intensity action and create the avenue for more competition within the squad ahead of the upcoming and future series.”
West Indies are currently bottom of the nine-team WTC table, having lost seven of their eight games in the ongoing cycle.
West Indies squad for Test series against Sri Lanka
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