SRI LANKA

1) The Sri Lankan cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. The team first played international cricket in 1975, and were later awarded Test status in 1981, which made Sri Lanka the eighth Test playing nation. The Sri Lankan team transformed themselves from the underdog status to a major cricketing nation during the 1990s. The team went on to take 1996 Cricket World Cup beating Australia in the finals, and becoming the World Champions. Since then, the team continued as a major force in international cricket, with ups and downs in certain periods. The Sri Lanka team did well to reach the finals of 2007 Cricket World Cup but lost to Australia in a rain affected match to becomes the runners up. The batting of Sanath Jayasuriya & Aravinda de Silva, backed up by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan & Chaminda Vaas has largely contributed the success of Sri Lankan cricket during the last 15 years. It is administrated by Sri Lanka Cricket. The history of the West Indies cricket team begins in the 1890s, when the first representative sides were selected to play visiting English sides. Administered by the West Indies Cricket Board ("WICB"),and known colloquially as The Windies, the West Indies cricket team represents a sporting confederation of English-speaking Caribbean countries.

The WICB joined the sport's international ruling body, the Imperial Cricket Council, in 1926,[3] and played their first official international match, granted Test status, in 1928.Although blessed with some great players in their early days as a Test nation, their successes remained sporadic until the 1960s, by which time the side had changed from a white-dominated to a black-dominated side. By the 1970s, the West Indies had a side recognised as unofficial world champions, a title they retained throughout the 1980s During these glory years, the Windies were noted for their four-man fast bowling attack, backed up by some of the best batsmen in the world. The 1980s saw them set a then-record streak of 11 consecutive Test victories in 1984 and inflict two 5–0 "blackwashes" against the old enemy of England. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, however, West Indian cricket declined, largely due to the failure of the West Indian Cricket Board to move the game from an amateur pastime to a professional sport coupled with the general economic decline in West Indian countries, and the team today is struggling to regain its past glory.

In their early days in the 1930s, the side represented the British colonies of the West Indies Federation plus British Guiana. The current side represents the now independent states of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, the British dependencies of Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and St. Maarten. National teams also exist for the various different islands, which, as they are all separate countries, very much keep their local identities and support their local favourites. These national teams take part in the West Indian first-class competition, the Carib Beer Cup (earlier known as the Busta Cup, Shell Shield and various other names). It is also common for other international teams to play the island teams for warm-up games before they take on the combined West Indies team.