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| Sunday, 13 January 2002 |
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Aravinda for England tour? By Sa'adi Thawfeeq Sri Lanka's prime batsman Aravinda de Silva has been told by the new national cricket selection committee that he will be considered for the tour to England later this year if he works himself into peak physical fitness. Selection committee sources confirmed that De Silva has been spoken to and that he has been given time till March 31 to prove his fitness to national team physio Alex Kountouri. De Silva lost his place in the national team to Hashan Tillakaratne at the start of the series against India in August last year, but has continued to play for NCC in the Premier Trophy tournament. It is understood that De Silva has also been asked to play regularly in the domestic season. The former selection committee headed by T. B. Kehelgamuwa also spoke to De Silva before the series against the West Indies, but nothing tangible took place. This is not the first time that De Silva has been asked to prove his fitness. In 1994 he was dropped from the national side to Sharjah after failing a fitness test, which was conducted by the Sports Ministry. It led to five other players including the captain at the time Arjuna Ranatunga, pulling out of the team in protest. The tour eventually went ahead without the protesting players and De Silva. De Silva (36) has played in 89 Tests scoring 5952 runs (avg. 41.91) with 19 centuries and scored 8430 runs (avg. 35.12) from 275 matches with 11 hundreds, all figures being the best for Sri Lanka. Since the 1999 World Cup in England, De Silva has figured largely in Test matches. Sri Lanka are due to tour England in the final week of April and their opening first-class fixture is against Kent at Canterbury, the county De Silva represented with great success in 1995. If De Silva is picked, he could prove an asset to the side considering his wide experience of English conditions, having toured there with Sri Lanka teams since 1984. |
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