Hubbry Logo
search
logo
852073

Aravinda de Silva

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Aravinda de Silva

Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (Sinhala: අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා,Tamil: அரவிந்த டி சில்வா ; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. Regarded as one of Sri Lanka’s greatest ever cricketers, De Silva was a key member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, where he scored a match winning century in the final, bringing Sri Lanka from underdog status to present-day form. During the twilight of his career, De Silva was part of the team which finished as joint-winners alongside India at the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. He has held various posts in Sri Lankan Cricket since his retirement in 2003. He was inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2023.

Aravinda is the only player to make a hundred and take three or more wickets in a World cup final. He is the first man to score two unbeaten hundreds in a Test, where he scored unbeaten 138 and 103 against Pakistan in 1997.

Following his illustrious cricket career, de Silva came under fire with several accusations of match fixing, along with Arjuna Ranatunga, which he vehemently denied.

De Silva had his initial education at D. S. Senanayake College, Colombo. and Isipathana College Colombo

A successful season playing first-class cricket for the English county Kent in 1995 marked a turning point in his career.

Following the Sri Lankan tour of New Zealand de Silva joined the English county team Kent in April 1995 on short notice after Kent's leading batsman of the previous season, Carl Hooper, left to join the West Indies team for the summer. The season proved to be a mix of disappointment and success for Kent, as they finished last (18th) in County Championship with only three wins and four draws out of 17 matches played. Their form in the 40-overs National Cricket League was much better, and they finished on top of the league table with 12 wins, four losses and one abandoned match. In addition, Kent reached the final of Benson & Hedges Cup, where they lost to Lancashire by 35 runs despite de Silva's 112 runs. Personally for de Silva, the time spent with Kent marked the turning point in his career. He was the third most prolific batsman of the County Championship in 1995 after Mark Ramprakash and Nasser Hussain with 1661 runs at an average of 59.32 and six centuries including the highest score of the season, 255. He was also often called to perform as fifth or sixth bowler, a role where he proved to be relatively economic but an inefficient wicket-taker.

De Silva did not play in Kent's two last County Championship matches having left to join the Sri Lankan squad on their tour of Pakistan.

On 28 July 2007 he made a one-off appearance for a friend for Dorset county league team Sherborne.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.