SelimNiai
'Ark at ee mun!
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- Sep 15, 2008
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Didn't really go that well though did it
Before the 1980's Sri Lanka didn't even have a national cricket team, then in 1982, they first started playing internationally, and went on a tour of several countries, including NZ, where the came up against a team that was at their very best; GlennTurner, Richard Hadlee, Bruce Edgar, John Wright, Jeff & Martin Crowe, Jeremy Coney, Geoff Howarth, Lance Cairns, Ewen Chatfield, Warren Lees and Martin Snedden (yes, that Martin Snedden). Arguably, the best cricket team NZ has ever had.
The Sri Lankans were smashed in both the ODI series (3-0) and in the Test Series (2-0). In that same year, they also lost ODI's to England (2-1) Pakistan (3-0) and India (3-0) but at the end of the year, they beat the Aussies 2-0 at home.
Only fourteen years later, Sri Lanka won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and six years after that, the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. They have been consecutive runners up in the 2007 and 2011 Cricket World Cups, and have been runners up in the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 and 2012. They have consistently been in the top few cricketing nations in the world for the last twenty years
The Sri Lankan cricket team currently holds several world records, including world records for highest team totals in all three forms of the game, Test, ODI and Twenty20.
What is it that the Adidas ad says...."Impossible is nothing"
Someone mentioned the need for a Pacific Island team, but I really think there is no need for it. I think the likes of Samoa will be serious contenders in 10 years. If the IRB can successfully stop player poaching, the Samoan team in particular could really do something soon. They are a perfect nation for rugby, right down to weather and genetics.
Someone mentioned the need for a Pacific Island team, but I really think there is no need for it. I think the likes of Samoa will be serious contenders in 10 years. If the IRB can successfully stop player poaching, the Samoan team in particular could really do something soon. They are a perfect nation for rugby, right down to weather and genetics.