Sir Garfield Sobers has been hailed as one of the greatest cricketers of all time. A dominant all-rounder in his time, the West Indies cricketer has been inducted in the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame as well.
Like Sobers, Michael Tissera was a revolutionary cricketer for Sri Lanka. Before Sri Lanka gained the status of a test-playing nation, it was Tissera who guided the national side to its initial victories in test cricket. Since Sri Lanka was not a test playing nations during Tissera’s era, most of his career was spent in playing first-class cricket. He played on three One Day Internationals, which included one half-century against Australia in the 1975 World Cup. He was the manager of the Sri Lanka cricket team between 2005 to 2007.
To honor the legends of their respective nations, in 2015, Cricket West Indies and Sri Lanka Cricket decided to name the test series between the two sides as the Sobers-Tissera Trophy. The first edition of the trophy was won by Sri Lanka. The following two series ended in a draw. Sri Lanka won the latest edition held in 2022.
Out of the nine test matches played as of 2024 in the Sobers-Tissera Trophy, West Indies have won one, Sri Lanka have won five, and three have ended in a draw. Shane Dowrich is the leading run-scorer in the Sobers-Tissera Trophy with 288 runs to his name. A West Indian also leads the wickets tally with Shannon Gabriel having 20 to his name.
The player of the series have been thrice won by Sri Lanka (Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Ramesh Mendis) and once by West Indies (Shane Dowrich).
