The Colombo Cricket Club was formed soon afterwards and matches began in November 1833 when it played against the 97th Regiment.

[5] On 21 July 1981, Sri Lanka was admitted to full membership of the ICC and was awarded Test Match status.

The inaugural Test was played at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo in February 1982 against England but Sri Lanka lost by 8 wickets.

On 6 November 2023, after the board's secretary Mohan De Silva resigned, Ranasinghe removed the entire SLC board and replaced them with a seven-member interim committee led by Arjuna Ranatunga—captain of Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup team.

[14][15] On 28 January 2024, the ICC lifted the suspension, after its board ruled that SLC were no longer in breach of membership obligations.