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Thilan Samaraweera

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Thilan Samaraweera
Personal information
Full name
Thilan Thusara Samaraweera
Born (1976-09-21) 21 September 1976 (age 48)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
RoleBatsman
RelationsDulip Samaraweera (brother)
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 86)29 August 2001 v India
Last Test3 January 2013 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 97)6 November 1998 v India
Last ODI2 April 2011 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1996–98Colts Cricket Club
1998–presentSinhalese Sports Club
2008–presentKandurata
2011Wayamba
2012Kandurata Warriors
2013Worcestershire (squad no. 3)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 81 53 271 194
Runs scored 5,462 862 15,501 3,568
Batting average 48.76 27.80 48.59 32.73
100s/50s 14/30 2/0 43/76 2/19
Top score 231 105* 231 105*
Balls bowled 1,327 702 17,961 4,769
Wickets 15 11 357 110
Bowling average 45.93 49.27 23.43 28.89
5 wickets in innings 0 0 15 2
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 2 n/a
Best bowling 4/49 3/34 6/55 7/30
Catches/stumpings 45/– 17/– 202/– 66/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 18 August 2014

Thilan Thusara Samaraweera (born 22 September 1976 in Colombo) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. Samaraweera plays international cricket for Sri Lanka and is in the side primarily for his solid right-handed batting but is also a capable off spinner.

Personal life

Thilan Samaraweera born in Colombo and had his education at Ananda College, Colombo. He is married and has 2 children. His brother, Dulip Samaraweera, also played Test cricket, appearing in seven Tests from 1993 to 1995. His brother-in-law Bathiya Perera has represented Sri Lanka A.

International career

Samaraweera started his career as an off-spinner who could bat a bit and could not find a way into the side due to the emergence of Muttiah Muralitharan. He managed a handful of ODI games in 1998 but did not play Test cricket until August 2001. Having worked on his batting considerably he got due reward by scoring century on debut against a strong Indian side helping Sri Lanka to win the series 2-1. He continued to star with the bat by scoring another two centuries in his next five Tests, all on his home ground, the SSC in Colombo. This stunning start to international cricket cemented his spot in the middle order, a spot which had holes to fill with the retirements of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne.

His off-spin has been rarely called upon by his captain but when he comes on he has earned a reputation as a partnership breaker.

After a poor Test series in England in which he failed to reach double figures in any of his four innings, he was dropped from the side. He was made captain of Sri Lanka A before earning a recall for the first Test against Australia in Brisbane. He scored 13 and 20 and was promptly dropped when Kumar Sangakkara returned to the side for the second game in Hobart. This was followed by his non-inclusion in the squad to play England in the first Test in Kandy.[1]

Samaraweera was included in the Sri Lankan team to play the Test series in Pakistan in February – March 2009. This series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from a scheduled series in Pakistan, following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Samaraweera started off the series in superb form, hitting consecutive double centuries – 231 in the first Test in Karachi and 214 in the second Test in Lahore.

In February 2009, he shared a record-breaking partnership of 437 with Mahela Jayawardene. This is a world record for 4th wicket in Test cricket. The previous Test record was held by an English pair—Peter May and Colin Cowdrey—who put on 411 against West Indies at Birmingham in May 1957. The record stood for 6 years until surpassed on 11 December 2015 by two Aussies Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh with 449 for fourth wicket against West Indies.[2]

In September 2009, he got his maiden ODI century against New Zealand national cricket team at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, almost eleven years after his ODI debut.

In 2011, after poor form with the bat during a home series against Australia, he was dropped from Sri Lanka's team for the series against Pakistan. He was also left out of the squad to tour South Africa, but was given a late call-up to cover for Mahela Jayawardene due to a knee injury.[3] He scored two centuries in the three-Test series, and moved into the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen for the first time in his career.[4]

International centuries

The following tables illustrate a summary of the centuries scored by Thilan Samaraweera

  • In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
  • The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Test Centuries

Test centuries of Thilan Samaraweera[5]
No. Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year
1 103* 1  India Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2001
2 123* 6  Zimbabwe Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2001
3 142 14  England Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2003
4 100 23  Pakistan Pakistan Faisalabad, Pakistan Iqbal Stadium 2004
5 138 30  Bangladesh Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka P. Saravanamuttu Stadium 2005
6 125 42  West Indies Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Queen's Park Oval 2008
7 127 43  India Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2008
8 231 47  Pakistan Pakistan Karachi, Pakistan National Stadium 2009
9 214 48  Pakistan Pakistan Lahore, Pakistan Gaddafi Stadium 2009
10 159 53  New Zealand Sri Lanka Galle, Sri Lanka Galle International Stadium 2009
11 143 54  New Zealand Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka Sinhalese Sports Club Ground 2009
12 137* 60  India Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka P. Saravanamuttu Stadium 2010
13 102 70  South Africa South Africa Durban, South Africa Kingsmead Cricket Ground 2011
14 115* 71  South Africa South Africa Cape Town, South Africa Newlands Cricket Ground 2012

One Day International Centuries

ODI centuries of Thilan Samaraweera
No. Runs Match Against City/Country Venue Year
1 104 22  New Zealand Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka R. Premadasa Stadium 2009
2 105* 30  India Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium 2010

Lahore attack

Samara, along with five other Sri Lanka cricketers, were injured in the 3 March 2009 attack on the bus that carried the Sri Lanka cricketers to the Gaddafi Stadium. He was hospitalised with a thigh injury.[6] Samaraweera was the most seriously injured player amongst them. Six policemen that guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-west-indies-2015-16/content/story/951153.html
  3. ^ "'Thought my career had ended' - Samaraweera". ESPNcricinfo. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Clarke vaults into top 10 after unbeaten triple century". icc-cricket.yahoo.net. International Cricket Council. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  5. ^ "TT Samaraweera - Test matches - Batting analysis". Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 March 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ (3 March 2009). "Sri Lankan cricket players shot in terrorist attack in Lahore". Sydney Morning Herald.
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