Sri Lanka will be looking for the elusive test match and series win when they tour India for a Three Test, five ODI and Two T20 match series from November to December 2009. The team arrive in India on November 8th for the 55-day tour.
Thilan Samaraweera is an offspinner, lived in the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan during the early days, only sporadically playing in one-day matches. But since scoring a Test century on debut against India in August 2001, an innings that helped Sri Lanka to a 2-1 series win, he has carved out a reputation as a specialist Test batsman. An adhesive and well-organised player, he took a particular liking to his home ground, the SSC in Colombo, where he scored three centuries in his first six Tests. With the departure of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne from the side, he has cemented his place in the middle order, where his patient and no-risks approach provides a useful counterpoint to his more flamboyant colleagues. Opportunities in the one-day team have been limited and he has been branded a Test specialist by the selectors. His steady off-spin is rarely used now, although he has a developing reputation as a partnership-breaker and clearly has the talent to become a more-than-useful support bowler. Although Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are queuing up for the captaincy, Samaraweera has also impressed while leading the A team and could be an outside bet as a captain a few years down the line.
Full name : Thilan Thusara Samaraweera
Born : September 22, 1976, Colombo
Batting style : Right-hand bat
Bowling style : Right-arm offbreak
Test debut : Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (SSC) - Aug 29-Sep 2, 2001
Last Test : Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Kandy - Apr 3-7, 2006
ODI debut : India v Sri Lanka at Sharjah - Nov 6, 1998
Last ODI : India v Sri Lanka at Vadodara - Nov 12, 2005
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in England in June of 2009. It will be the second World Twenty20 and will consist of 12 teams, contested by all Test-playing nations plus qualifiers (Ireland, Netherlands and Scotland)
The Champions Twenty20 League, formed with the official sanction of ICC will kick off in October 2008. Eight domestic teams from four nations will participate. Cricket Australia will partner the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA). The champion team in the Champions Twenty20 league will get US $5 million, which is the highest ever prize money for a cricket event.
Thilan Samaraweera is an offspinner, lived in the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan during the early days, only sporadically playing in one-day matches. But since scoring a Test century on debut against India in August 2001, an innings that helped Sri Lanka to a 2-1 series win, he has carved out a reputation as a specialist Test batsman. An adhesive and well-organised player, he took a particular liking to his home ground, the SSC in Colombo, where he scored three centuries in his first six Tests. With the departure of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne from the side, he has cemented his place in the middle order, where his patient and no-risks approach provides a useful counterpoint to his more flamboyant colleagues. Opportunities in the one-day team have been limited and he has been branded a Test specialist by the selectors. His steady off-spin is rarely used now, although he has a developing reputation as a partnership-breaker and clearly has the talent to become a more-than-useful support bowler. Although Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are queuing up for the captaincy, Samaraweera has also impressed while leading the A team and could be an outside bet as a captain a few years down the line.
