25th Anniversary Celebrations of Test Status
Sri Lanka Cricket
31-Jul-2006
Sri Lanka was admitted as the Seventh Full Member of the ICC at a meeting of the International Cricket Conference (as it was then known) held at Lords London from July 21st to 23rd 1981. The other Test Playing Nations at that time were England, Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, India and Pakistan.
Within these 25 years Sri Lanka has not only beaten every Test Playing Nation in the longer version of the game but also won the World Cup as well in 1996. Despite many obstacles during the past several years, our Cricketers and Administrators have very graciously succeeded in establishing the name of Sri Lanka in the world map, as a Cricket loving nation with millions of cricket fans with a passion for cricket.
Sri Lanka Cricket will be organizing a special event on 04th August 2006, to recognize and felicitate the players who participated in the First Test played against England from 17th to 21st February 1982. This felicitation ceremony will be held at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Leslie Ranagala Mawatha, Colombo 8, which is in fact the same venue at which the First Test was played 25 years ago.
The celebrations will commence with the handing over of memorabilia to the players of the First Test at 9.45 a.m. on 04th August 2006, prior to the commencement of the 2nd Test match - Sri Lanka Vs South Africa to be played at the same venue. This event will be sponsored by Hatton National Bank Ltd, and they in fact sponsored the First Test Match - Sri Lanka vs England played at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium.
We indicate below for the information of Cricket lovers the composition of the First Test Team of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Bandula Warnapura (Capt.) Mr. D S De Silva Mr. Duleep Mendis (Vice Capt) Mr. Asantha De Mel Mr. Sidath Wettimuny Mr. Lalith Kalupermua Mr. Roy Dias Mr. Mahesh Goonatillake Mr. Ranjan Madugalle Mr. G R Ajith De Silva Mr. Arujna Ranantunga Mr. Anura Ranasinghe (Reserve)
The Umpires for the First Test were Mr. H C Felsinger and Mr. K T Francis, whilst Mr. M. Rajasingham was the Manager of the Sri Lanka Test Team. Hon. Gamini Dissanayake was the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka during this period. The England Team which was captained by Mr. K R W Fletcher won the first Test by 7 wickets. The summary of Scores is as follows:
Sri Lanka England 1st Innings - 218 all out 1st innings - 223 all out 2nd Inning - 175 all out 2nd Innings - 171 for 03 wickets