Poll Results: Fans divided over non-selection of Aravinda De Silva

CricInfo's recently finished poll, which asked you whether Aravinda De Silva should be recalled to the ODI squad, attracted an enormous level of interest

Charlie Austin

15-Nov-2000

CricInfo's recently finished poll, which asked you whether Aravinda De Silva should be recalled to the ODI squad, attracted an enormous level of interest. Over the two-week period we received nearly 36,000 votes. However, Sri Lankan fans appear deeply divided. Unlike the US election we will not be ordering a recount and can announce that 48% of you believed that De Silva should be re-called but 50% agreed with the selectors that he should not play.

Here are some of your opinions:

Aravinda De Silva should play Test and One-Day cricket until we find a middle order batsman. In One-Day international cricket Aravinda could even open because we still do not have a stable partner for Sanath. Azzam (Australia)

The selection committee should give him a chance to become the first player in the world to reach 10,000 runs in One-Day international cricket. Dr. Gamini Gunasekera (Sri Lanka)

Aravinda is a great player and stylish batsman; it's real pleasure to watch him playing. He should play in One-Day International. His service to the national side is a must and youngsters should benefit from his experience. We are working in Dubai and we love cricket. Good luck for Aravinda and Sri Lankan team; including Dav and Alex. Sampath (UAE)

Aravinda de Silva should be in the One-Day team for many reasons:

1) He is close to many world records and our country should be proud of this
2) He is a classy allrounder, which we currently lack. Our recent super
performance against mediocre teams such as India and Zimbabwe doesn't prove our superiority in cricket. We have to perform in a similar fashion against teams like Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. This statement does not demean our teams credibility, but I would like to beat the above 3 teams convincingly. Aravinda's inclusion will further strengthen our batting line up and also, he will be a useful contributor to our bowling department. 3) He must be between 34-35 years old, if that's the case, then he has another good 3 years of cricket in him. 4) Finally, player of his calibre has a lot to offer to a great nation of us. KUMAR (Canada)

Seeing the Sri Lankan team play the way they did in the recently concluded Coca Cola Trophy in Sharjah, one would wonder whether recalling Aravinda de Silva would be in the long term interest of Sri Lankan cricket - be it One-Day or Test matches.

The middle order was supposedly looking frail and would cave in on a few occasions, but, now, there seems to be a look of stability established with Russel Arnold playing the cameos and also capable of playing a long innings. There would be times when Aravinda's experience would be required but then the team has to learn to play without the old timers. It may take time for the youngsters to come to grips with the harsh realities of sledging etc. but then one cannot expect Aravinda and Arjuna to be representing Sri Lankan cricket for ever. They have served Sri Lankan cricket wonderfully well through all rough times and seen Sri Lankan cricket scale the heights of Everest. Now let some other "climbers" do the same or scale even higher mountains.

Keep going boys - you all are doing a fine job. Play the game hard, straight and fair. Ifthikar Sheriff and family

Aravinda should not be picked for ODI's and Test matches. He did a good job for Sri Lanka cricket but he is maniac going after money. Note: If you want to see Sri Lanka cricket reach the highest standards we should not pick cricketers like Kapila Wijegoonawardana as our national selectors. There are lot more good cricketer's who played more cricket than Kapila. Chris.

We should include Aravinda De Silva in both Test matches and ODIs. Even though his fielding is a little slow we should allow him to continue his career in great style. We cannot forget what he has done for cricket and that he has another two years of good cricket left in him. Dilshan (UAE)

Sri Lanka