Hashan Tillakaratne

Hashan Tillakaratne
හෂාන් තිලකරත්න

Personal information
Full name	Hashan Prasantha Tillakaratne
Born	(1967-07-14) 14 July 1967 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Batting	Left-handed
Role	Middle order Batsman
Relations	Ravindu Tillakaratne (son) Duvindu Tillakaratne (son)
International information
National side	Sri Lanka (1986–2004)
Test debut (cap 45)	16 December 1989 v Australia
Last Test	24 March 2004 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 51)	27 November 1986 v India
Last ODI	7 April 2003 v Zimbabwe
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1987–2006	Nondescripts Cricket Club
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs Matches 83 200 Runs scored 4545 3789 Batting average 42.87 29.60 100s/50s 11/20 2/13 Top score 204* 104 Balls bowled 76 180 Wickets – 6 Bowling average – 23.50 5 wickets in innings – – 10 wickets in match – n/a Best bowling – 1/3 Catches/stumpings 122/2 89/6
Source: ESPNcricifo, 9 February 2006

Deshabandu Hashan Prasantha Tillakaratne (born 14 July 1967, in Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a former Test captain for Sri Lanka. He was a key member for 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team for Sri Lanka. He is currently a politician and also involve many cricketing aspects within the country.

International career

Hashan started playing cricket at D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo. As a schoolboy in 1986, he was selected to play against England B at Galle, scoring a century to save the match. He played in his first One Day International in November 1986 and subsequently made his debut in the Sri Lankan cricket team as a wicketkeeper-batsman in December 1989. He continued as a specialist batsman from December 1992.

He was part of the Sri Lankan cricket team that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He was dropped from the Sri Lankan Test and ODI teams after the 1999 Cricket World Cup, but returned to the Test team in 2001 following success in domestic first-class cricket, where he played for Nondescripts Cricket Club. He also returned to the ODI team in 2002–03. He became captain of the Sri Lanka Test team in April 2003, but won only one of his ten matches in charge. After losing 3–0 to Australia, he resigned in March 2004 and was not selected for Sri Lanka again.

In 1995, in an ODI against West Indies at Sharjah he went to become the first batsman in the world to score an ODI century when batting at number 7 position. Up to date, he remains the only Sri Lankan to have scored an ODI century when batting at number 7 position and still has the highest ODI score for Sri Lanka when batting at no 7 position.(100)

Hashan Tillakaratne's test career performance graph.

Post-retirement

On 1 February 2005, the Sri Lankan cricket board appointed him Executive Director of Cricket-Aid, a body formed to provide relief following the December 2004 tsunami,[1] but he was suspended amid recriminations later that year.[2].

Following this he entered politics, joining the United National Party, and was appointed as the party's organiser for Avissawella constituency in Colombo. He continued his association with cricket serving on various SLC committees at the invitation of the newly appointed president, Arjuna Ranatunga. He was also granted an honorary life membership of the MCC in March 2008. In May, he was appointed the president of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers of Sri Lanka (ACUSSL) and the Sri Lankan cricket board appointed him as National Cricket Team Manager in July 2008. This appointment was subsequently vetoed by the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge on the grounds that the SLC had failed to obtain his prior permission on the appointment.

In April 2011 he caused a furore by making public allegations that match fixing had been taking place in Sri Lankan cricket since 1992 and stated that he was prepared to divulge the information that he had about this to the ICC. His claims were also supported by former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga who claimed that there was corruption within the administration of the game.

External links

• Hashan Tillakaratne at ESPNcricinfo