I’d never given up playing for Sri Lanka, says Chamara

By Desmond Samith

A few days after celebrating his 30th birthday (on Dec 14) Chamara Silva received the good news – he is back in the Sri Lanka cricket team.
Silva is making a comeback after six months if one considers the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June as his last outing for the country, or after 16 months if one goes by his last appearance in an ODI (in August 2008 vs India in Colombo). He played his last Test in April 2008, vs West Indies at Port of Spain.
Being in and out of the team is not new to Silva. He first made a comeback to the team in 2006 after playing his last of 10 ODIs in 2002.
And this time around the exciting middle order batsman, already having 55 ODIs and 1324 runs under his belt, is not going to let the chance slip away.
“I had never given up playing for my country,” Silva said.
“With my experience, I was hoping I would get another chance. Now I want to get the most from my recall to the side.”
His Aravinda de Silva-like mannerism while batting, first caught the eye of fans. And given Sri Lanka’s fragile middle order batting and flagging fielding standards this time around the selectors must have considered Silva’s ability to nudge the ball into gaps in the middle overs and accelerate towards the end coupled with his agility on the field. But more than past laurels Silva’s recent form in the domestic circuit clearly forced the issue.
He was the top run-scorer in the domestic Premier League Tier A tournament, with 900 runs from 11 matches at 56.25. Playing for Bloomfield he scored three hundreds and four fifties. An impressive strike rate of 99.77 must have helped his cause too.
“I practised hard and played well in the Premier League,” Silva said.
When asked about him losing his place in the team he said: “After doing reasonably well in the Asia Cup I failed against India in the home series and lost my place. Every cricketer goes through a lean patch in his career, and I think there was no exception for me.”
The Bangladesh tri-series will be an occasion to try out the World Cup 2011 probables, but when asked about it Silva chose to play it safe.
“I have no big hopes,” he said. “Now all what I want is to play well and cement my place in the team.”
With Thilan Samaraweera back in the ODI picture and likes of Thilina Kandamby and allrounder Angelo Mathews doing well, there is a healthy competition among players for middle order batting slots. And Silva welcomed it.
“It’s a good thing for the players,” he said.
“It’s good to compete and get into the team. Then you have the assurance that if you do well you can always make a comeback.”