Brought to the island by the British during the colonial era, cricket was an immediate hit on the island. The first recorded game played in Sri Lanka – at that time known as Ceylon – was in 1832 and the Sri Lankan cricket team was first invited to play in the inaugural World Cup by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1975 before being awarded Test status in 1981.
Since this date the team has regularly competed at the top table of world cricket and produced some of the finest players of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. The team went as far as winning the Cricket World Cup in 1996, easily dispatching the all-conquering Australian team which included the likes of Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath. Sri Lanka is thus one of just five countries to have won the Cricket World Cup. Whilst the team has fallen to seventh in the ICC rankings as of May 2015, Sri Lanka remain a difficult country for visiting touring teams, though it is popular with visiting supporters as the crowd are naturally warm and welcoming.