Thilan Samaraweera

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Thilan Samaraweera
Personal information
Full name	Thilan Thusara Samaraweera
Born	22 September 1976 (1976-09-22) (age 32)
	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm offbreak
Role	Batsman
Relations	Dulip Samaraweera (brother)
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 86)	29 August 2001: v India
Last Test	8 August 2008: v India
ODI debut (cap 97)	6 November 1998: v India
Last ODI	12 November 2005:v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1998–present	Sinhalese Sports Club
1996–98	Colts Cricket Club
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs	FC	List A
Matches	45	17	195	116
Runs scored	2,552	199	9,550	1,533
Batting average	44.00	16.58	44.41	25.13
100s/50s	7/15	0/0	22/52	0/7
Top score	142	33	206	76
Balls bowled	1,291	672	17,458	4,624
Wickets	14	10	347	108
Bowling average	48.50	50.90	23.43	28.34
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	33/–	3/–	165/–	38/–
Source: CricketArchive, 27 September 2008

Thilan Thusara Samaraweera is a Sri Lankan cricketer, born September 22, 1976 in Colombo. 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.

Samaraweera started his career as an offspinner who could bat a bit and couldn't find a way into the side due to the emergence of Muttiah Muralitharan. He managed a handful of ODI games in 1998 but didn't 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]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Samaraweera's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).