[2] The sport became popular in British Empire colonies, including Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).
S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia and Royal College, Colombo began to play cricket, and large schools in Kandy, Galle, Matara, and Jaffna have included cricket in their sports programs; it gradually became Sri Lanka's most popular sport.
The Sri Lankan government recognized cricket as a national sport and enacted infrastructure projects for it.
Schools were financially encouraged to offer cricket programs, helping to provide national teams to represent Sri Lanka at the international level.
Wesley College, Colombo principal J. S. Carter helped form the association in 1948, and was its first president.
According to a team's ranking in its age group, each league has three divisions: I, II, and III.