cricket in sri lanka

Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) became a British colony in 1802. 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 was formed soon afterwards and matches began in November 1832. Since then, the sport has grown domestically with major events such as the Premier Trophy (starting 1938) and Premier Limited Overs Tournament (starting 1988-89). Internationally, the Sri Lankan national team has hosted several top sides including Australia, England and India; and Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup.