2007 - Sri Lanka - 5 Rupee
Cricket World Cup - 2007 Runners Up

Two commemorative coins were issued on 2008 August 18th to mark the Sri Lanka being Runners Up at Cricket World Cup in 2007. A five rupee Brass plated Steel coin for circulation was issued together with an one thousand rupee Nickel plated Steel Brillient Uncirculated coin.

SPECIFICATIONS
DenominationRupees 5/-
AlloyBrass Plated Steel
Diameter23.5 mm
Thickness2.7 mm
Weight7.7 gms
ShapeRound
EdgeMilled
Die-Axis
Mintage7,860,000
MintRoyal,Wales
2007_Rs5_obverse 2007_Rs5_reverse
KM# 173

Obverse : To the right an artist's impression of a bowler. A legend 2007 CRICKET WORLD CUP March 13-April 28 in English appears just above. The Win අනු ශුරයෝ in Sinhala இரண்டாம் இடம் in Thamil and Runners-up in 3 lines appears to the left. The names of the 16 countries that participated in the 2007 Cricket World Cup Tournament WEST INDIES ENGLAND BANGLADESH IRELAND NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIA SOUTH AFRICA CANADA, SCOTLAND, BERMUDA, NETHERLANDS, KENYA, ZIMBABWE, INDIA, PAKISTAN appear around the periphery, with SRI LANKA in larger font on top only in English, within a raised rim.
Reverse : The heraldic lion in the National Flag in upper center facing left with sword. The large numeral denomination 5 in lower right with රුපියල් පහයි in Sinhala, ஐந்து ரூபாய் in Thamil and FIVE RUPEES to left. All within plain circle. The country name ශ්‍රී ලංකා in Sinhala, centered on top, இலங்கை in Thamil on right and SRI LANKA on left, with year of issue 2007 at the bottom along periphery in annulus with raised rim.
Edge : The coin is 2.7 MM thick and has incused lettering on milled edge in ශ්‍රී . ලං . ම . බැ . in Sinhala, இ . ம . வ . in Thamil and C . B . S . L ..

A colorful six page coin pack in slip case with two uncirculated Rs 5/- coins enclosed, was also issued and sold for Rs250 (US$2.33) Mouse over images to view.

Front Slip cover
and Front page

Pages 2 and 3

Pages 4 and 5

Back Slip cover
and Back page

Minted at Royal Mint Llantrsant, United Kingdom.
The artwork was done by Central Bank artist M. H. Hasitha Chanka.

I was once told that it was Sri Lanka's most famous bowler Mr Muttiah Muralitharan.
However when informed by a Cricket expert, that it was a fast bowler, probably Chaminda Vas I was able to find a closely matching photograph taken in 2007 December and shown on upper left.

The commemorative coin was obtained from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka stall at the International Cricket Ground, Dambulla, where they were first sold to public.

Read my Article Sri Lanka 2007 Cricket World Cup Runners-Up Commemorative Coins which was submitted to the SundayTimes of Sri Lanka on 2008 August 20th but didn't get published because of lack of space.

The coin scanned at 600 dpi and the images are displayed at 254 dpi.