da cassino online： Hashan Tillakaratne, a regular member Sri Lanka’s powerful batting line-upin the 1990’s, is determined to make a comeback to the international sceneafter two years in the wilderness, having been recalled to the nationaltraining squad for the
Rex Clementine03-Jul-2001Hashan Tillakaratne, a regular member Sri Lanka’s powerful batting line-upin the 1990’s, is determined to make a comeback to the international sceneafter two years in the wilderness, having been recalled to the nationaltraining squad for the forthcoming triangular series against India and NewZealand and three-match Test series against India in August.Tillakaratne, who made his international debut more than a decade ago, was aregular member of the Sri Lankan team before the 1999 World Cup in England.But after a disappointing performance by Sri Lanka in that tournament, hewas jettisoned, a victim of the radical youth policy adopted thereafter bythe national selectors.He remembers well the day when he was shown the door by the selectors: “Iwas upset, butthe selectors reasoned that they wanted to groom youngsters,” says theleft-hander, who scored 2972 Test runs at 38.59 in 56 games.Roshan Mahanama, a long-standing teammate of Tillakaratne’s, was alsodropped because of the selectors’ policy of blooding youngsters. Mahanamaimmediately decided to retire, but Tillakaratne has now fought his way backon to the verge of the Test team.”I just didn’t want to quit then,” said Tillakaratne. “Firstly was because Iwas still scoring runs and secondly because I still had the desire. I feelsorry for Roshan Mahanama though. Personally, I feel that he should havecontinued for some more time.”In his last test innings, at the 1999 Asian Test Championship in Bangladesh,he scored an unbeaten fifty. Batting at the pivotal number six position hewas one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent players.He is a adhesive accumulator, blessed with strong mental skills and a finetechnique, who looks to occupy the crease for a long period time; attributesthat Sri Lanka has cried out for the last 12 months. Indeed there were manywho felt that he should have played during the recent Test series againstEngland”I was hoping to play against England, but, unfortunately, I didn’t do wellin those two four-day games early on in the tour,” he says. “I am, however,happy with my form at the present moment in time.”He has been working hard on his game: “I have been talking a lot to DavWhatmore, Owen Mottau and Rumesh Ratnayake. They’ve been really encouragingand have helped me change certain aspects of my game.”His inclusion in the 22-man national training squad was always likely afterhe topped the domestic batting averages with an average in excess of 100.He was the ninth highest run scorer with with 665 runs and scored threecenturies, including a marathon 185 against Burgher Recreation Club.”I still love the game and if you see my statistics, they are pretty good,”said Tillakaratne. “It’s a privilege to be back training again with thenational squad.”Tillakaratne’s inclusion in the Test team is by no means assured. It remainsto be seen as to whether the selectors are willing to play both Aravinda deSilva and Tillakaratne. If it comes to a choice between the two then DeSilva will probably get the nod. If they are looking for a player oftemperament, however, to battle it out in the middle order, then they couldfind few better men than Tillakaratne.