From an innocuous spinner to test and ODI batsman, Thilan Samaraweera has displayed an astounding versatility as a cricketer. Samaraweera at 36 announced his retirement from all forms of the game by tending his resignation to Sri Lanka Cricket on the 5th of March 2013.
He was recently dropped after a surprisingly poor Australian tour and recalled as replacement for the injured Mahela Jayawardena for the Bangladesh tour. However, though he was included in the squad of 20, he was not selected for the squad of 15 to face the 1st test vs Bangladesh which was obviously a scalding point for him.
It would be a fool who would say Samaraweera fared poorly over the last few years! It is simply that for an aging player to hold his place in side for so long when so many youngsters (nowhere near his par) were poking their heads in the door, was difficult. To quote Kumar Sangakkara -subcontinent players have no shelf-life. But Samarweera though equally effective does not have the track record of Sachin Tendulkar or for that matter a Kumar Sangakkara or a Mahela Jayawardena, so he would have to be sacrifized for the up and coming.
Thilan Samaraweera first came into the side as an average spinner making a simple ODI debut in 1998 and no one in creation would have ever expected him to go on to hold the top of the country’s batting rankings. In the shadow of the great Muttiah Muralidaran, in an era when every spinner in the circuit was tried and found wanting, Samaraweera was unceremoniously dropped in his early years; most people did not expect to hear of him again.
The character he was, he came back fighting to find himself a place as a test batsman. He patrolled the middle-order as a firm sentinel making it his business not to allow the bowlers to get past him to the tail. He could have been easily called the wall for Sri Lanka- the Dravid, where he doggedly fought refusing to give up his wicket whenever he got the opportunity to bat. At a point in time having been unbeaten so many times his batting average was a staggering 50+ A mediocre spinner getting himself not only into the side but holding the position of no 5 for many years in the Sri Lankan ranks shows how much he must have dedicated at working at his game. Sri Lanka who had struggled for long to find a solid middle order settled quickly to his unyielding batsmanship.
In a press briefing he is reported to have stated that he was planning to retire after the West Indies and South Africa tour schedules but thought of considering his retirement after the Bangladesh tour. Sadly the selectors did not afford him that cordiality.
The selectors, he stated had informed him that younger players would be tried for tours of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but that his experience and probably staunch batting would certainly be required for the tougher tours. Sensibly he notes that long periods without match practice is not a practical solution for an aging player.
Samaraweera does not leave without stamping his mark on Sri Lanka cricket. Coming much later to the fore, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Sangakkara and Jayawardena in the batting of Sri Lanka.
Thilan Samaraweera ends his test batting career on an average of 48.76 which stacks him with elite of the batting in the world. With 14 centuries and 30 fifties in 83 test matches, he will be classed as one of the top batsman to be produced in the island. He turned out for 53 ODIs holding an average of 27.80 which for a middle order player, is also on par with the best. He has two ODI centuries to his name. Further he has shared a record-breaking 4th wicket partnership of 437 with Mahela Jaywardena against Pakistan and has held vigil for his side’s cause a countless amount of times.
However, the most significant of his tenure would be the lesson he teaches youngsters on resourcefulness and fight. Never giving into mediocrity or flailing in sight of the more talented or flamboyant. Another story that never got too much applause is the fact that from this dogged, fighting un-removable test cricketer stand, he escalated himself into a flamboyant, shot-making ODI player and landed himself in the ODI routine for Sri Lanka. To this scribe this out-of-character positioning and climb is overwhelming and a lesson to those just taking up the game, how one can work your bones off to become more than what is perceived. If there is any cricketer in the history of Sri Lanka Cricket who epitomes this gigantic versatility, it is Thilan Samaraweera – the man who played out of his skin.
ThePapare.com joins its readers in salute to this great servant of our cricket and encourages the young to homage him by taking a leaf off his book to become the best one can be by sheer hand work, dedication and never, never giving up – even after being shot at by terrorists.
