by Rex Clementine
Take all the Sri Lankan batsmen who have scored more than 5000 Test runs, they all had something special. Aravinda had flamboyance, Marvan was technically sound, Sanath was hard hitting, Mahela is classy, Sanga the perfectionist and Arjuna, a fighter to the core. Thilan Samaraweera has none of those attributes, but yet has compiled over 5000 runs in Test cricket. How he did it is the mystery?
In fact, he made his Sri Lanka debut as an off-spinner in 1999 in an ODI game in Australia when Muttiah Muralitharan was injured. Being the smart man he is, it didn’t take Thilan long to realize that he wasn’t going to go anywhere as a spinner. Instead he concentrated on his batting and through sheer hard work rose up the ranks. Heaps of runs for his club SSC and Sri Lanka ‘A’ saw him making his Test debut against India in 2001, where he had the rare honour of making a century on debut.
Since, then, there have been several ups and downs. He was dropped more than once in his career lasting for over a decade, at times rather unfairly, particularly for the away Test series against Pakistan last year.
Thilan’s high point was the twin hundreds he scored in South Africa last summer. He wasn’t picked in the original tour party and was only a late addition due to the intense pressure the Selection Panel headed by Duleep Mendis faced. In the end of it all, the cause proved to be totally worth.
Before Samaraweera, only Hashan Tillekeratne had scored a Test hundred in South Africa. There was this notion that the Sri Lankans couldn’t handle bounce. If at all someone was going to predict that on that tour a second Sri Lankan was going to make a century, they would have opted for the more flamboyant Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan or even Mathews. Samaraweera was a flat track bully, they said.
It all disappeared in Durban last year. On a lively track, against one of world’s best pace attacks, Samaraweera crafted a match winning century. Why the Durban win is all the more special was that two of the most underrated Sri Lankan cricketers – Samaraweera and Rangana Herath – rose to the limelight on that occasion.
Samaraweera followed it up with another century in Cape Town. No talks of flat track bully then as he was the darling of Sri Lankan cricket.
Thilan has redeemed the team on many an occasion. But doesn’t get the credit he deserves. When people labeled his batting dull, Samaraweera worked with Chandika Haturusinghe on remaining positive and maximizing scoring options. He was a different player since then and to his credit earned a place in Sri Lanka’s ODI squad.
Thilan’s greatest strength is knowing his limitations and working hard to overcome those. During the recent second Test against New Zealand, after Sri Lanka’s top order had collapsed, he came up with a knock that held the innings together.
After his fighting 76, coach Graham Ford called him a player whom young cricketers should emulate. "Obviously Thilan is a fantastic example. Young cricketers don’t need to look too far to find how important hard work is. Sometimes they may think that you just come out and play, but anyone who is successful at this level has put in lot of hard work. Thilan is a great example for really making himself a batsman with a solid technique. He had the talent obviously, but he has developed his technique and he has worked hard. He is a professional cricketer and at the moment it’s really good to have a guy like him in the side and he sets the example for the young players," Ford said.
Despite the heavy runs he has scored, Samaraweera wouldn’t get mentioned alongside some of the Sri Lankan greats. But his team-mates would tell you what he meant to the side. During the second Test against New Zealand he was batting with a split between his middle and ring fingers of his right-hand that required three stitches and pain killers. It wasn’t the only occasion he has done that.
He perhaps will not be rated very highly among some of Sri Lanka’s leading Test batsmen, but the fact remains that Thilan has achieved for Sri Lanka what most couldn’t. Durban 2011 was his crowning moment and he is the last man standing of a dying breed.
The Island
