Full Name

Thilan Thusara Samaraweera

Born

September 22, 1976, Colombo

Age

47y 179d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Offbreak

Playing Role

Batter

RELATIONS

(brother),

(brother-in-law)

Thilan Samaraweera's batting will not fill a stadium; yet, in a batting line-up of flamboyant strokeplayers, his patience and solidity offers a vital balancing factor. In his second avatar he has added more strokes to make his batting more well-rounded, but what Samaraweera does best is wear bowlers down through patient and relentless accumulation. His batting is built around reserves of resilience, determination and sheer toughness, and he had to draw into them all to overcome the trauma of cricket's darkest hours - the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.

Samaraweera will forever be remembered for not letting a bullet injury end his international career. He was in his best form, having scored two consecutive double-centuries in Pakistan, when his team bus came under fire in March 2009 and a bullet penetrated 12 inches into his left thigh. He needed surgery and spent three months dealing with the physical and mental wounds of his ordeal. That Samaraweera returned to play his 50th Test in July was a triumph of his strength of character.

His return was a second coming after he had begun his career with a hundred on debut against India in 2001. The retirements of Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne gave Samaraweera a run in the middle order but indifferent form in 2006 led to him being dropped. He returned 18 months later, a more aggressive, prolific batsman and yet remained as solid as he was before, reigniting his career with a century against India in July 2008. It was the beginning of a purple patch which continued even after his run-in with gunmen.

Despite all the runs Samaraweera scored, question-marks remained due to his relative lack of success outside the subcontinent. Worse was to follow when he went through a wretched run of form against Australia at home, in 2011. He was subsequently dropped for the Tests against Pakistan in UAE, but defeat in that series forced the selectors to recall him for the South Africa tour. Samaraweera responded in style with two centuries when some of his more illustrious team-mates struggled to put bat to ball. Samaraweera's finest hour came when his century in Durban delivered Sri Lanka their first win in South Africa.

Though he had a moderately successful year in 2012, Samaraweera was the most notable batting failure in Sri Lanka's year-end tour of Australia. Despite scoring plenty of runs in the domestic season thereafter, he didn't find a place in Sri Lanka's squad for the home Test series against Bangladesh. With no meaningful Test cricket scheduled for Sri Lanka for several months, Samaraweera announced his retirement from all international cricket in March 2013.
George Binoy

Thilan Samaraweera Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests8113220546223148.761164146.9214306337450
ODIs534211862105*27.80124469.2920760170
FC271389701550123148.59--4376--2020
List A194148393568105*32.73--219--660
T20s292826927126.61507136.4806871330

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests81351327689154/496/6745.933.1188.4100
ODIs5317702542113/343/3449.274.6363.8000
FC271-1796183663576/55-23.432.7950.3-152
List A194-476931781107/307/3028.893.9943.3020
T20s294626633/173/1722.006.3820.6000
Thilan Thusara Samaraweera

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Recent Matches of Thilan Samaraweera

Photos of Thilan Samaraweera

Finn Allen chats with batting coach Thilan Samaraweera
Thilan Samaraweera and Angelo Mathews at nets
Thilan Samaraweera has a chat with Kusal Mendis
Bangladesh batting consultant Thilan Samaraweera helps Alauddin Babu with his stance
Thilan Samaraweera on his first day as Bangladesh's batting consultant
Thilan Samaraweera swings one to leg