Aravinda De Silva prepares himself for swangsong

Aravinda de Silva, the Sri Lanka's highest run scorer in Tests and ODIs, is preparing himself for the final chapter in a glorious career that has spanned nearly two decades.

De Silva, now 37, the longest standing player in international cricket having made his debut in 1984, has confirmed that he will retire from the game immediately after the tournament.

"My target was always to finish off my career at a World Cup and I'm glad I have got the opportunity of doing so," said De Silva, who recently became the third player in history to score 9000 ODI runs.

"Like any other World Cup, the priority is to try and win it. My emphasis will be to try and contribute in whatever way I can to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the World Cup."

Over the years de Silva developed a reputation for being a big match player, a trait that helped him win a recall to the one-day side last August after two years in the wilderness.

He admits that he is no longer the player he once was, warning that he should not be expected to repeat his 1996 heroics when he won four man of the match awards and scored an unbeaten century in the final.

"I can't expect to do the things I did in the 1996 World Cup," he said. "But I am quite mobile at the moment and it's only another maximum of 11 games to go and I want to give it 200 percent everytime. I know what my limitations are. So I will have to try and push myself to the maximum and give my best to the side."

Famed for his breathtaking strokeplay in his pomp, when he was driven by an apparently irrepressible urge to dominate, De Silva's approach has changed since his return to the side.

"When I was out of the game for nearly two years it was very hard to come back and do probably the same things you did in the past. You are fighting for a place and your confidence level has dropped so much over the years," said de Silva.

"You have to establish yourself and it's a different way you approach the game: when you are confident, you will tend to play more shots and the risk element will be a bit high but you come off in difficult situations more often than not. When you are not so confident you become a bit more tentative and you have to curb your game a lot more. I have curbed my game a lot more than what I used to in the past," he said.

With this tournament being his last De Silva wants to just go out and enjoy himself.

"I have decided that I am not going to put any pressure on myself. I just want to go out there and enjoy myself," he said.

De Silva said that he was quite confident with the ability of the present team, but what they lacked was a bit of experience, especially in the bowling.

"Our bowling is something we have to be aware of. I think unless we have an experienced bowling attack, especially in South African conditions, we will struggle a little bit," said De Silva.

"The bowling is not as experienced as what it was in 1996. It is the fast bowlers who have to be more experienced to know how they have to bowl in these conditions. That is something our side lacks at the moment and it is an area we have to focus really hard," he said.