Thilan Samaraweera

Although 33 years sometime back in Sri Lanka was considered the start of the twilight of an international cricketer - remember Roshan Mahanama, undoubtedly the best fielder the country has produced who was sacked at the age of 32 - times seem to have changed.

For Thilan Samaraweera, who will turn 33 later this month, it’s quite the contrary. After several failed attempts to establish his place in the One-day team, Samaraweera finally broke through on a day when all Sri Lankan batsmen failed miserably during the first ODI of the Compaq Series against New Zealand at R. Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday, hitting his maiden ODI century.

Although captain Kumar Sangakkara has stood firmly behind Samaraweera, there have been several objections, at least privately in cricket circles from players to coaches against the batsman’s inclusion in the ODI side. The names of several young players have been thrown in in place of Samaraweera and after a below par ODI series against Pakistan, two things ensured his place in the side for the Champions Trophy. One was his form in Test cricket and the other being no young player had come up with performances to warrant a place. The Sri Lankan selectors also probably took a cue from their Indian counterparts, who recalled Rahul Dravid to fix some of their middle order woes.

After scoring his maiden ODI hundred on Tuesday, Samaraweera spoke to journalists and said that he believed at one stage that his ODI career was over. "I felt my ODI career was over. But then, something also told me that with the middle order struggling in One-day cricket, I could get an opportunity, especially as I had done well in Test matches during the last 18 months."

Samaraweera’s hundred rescued Sri Lanka from a tricky position on Tuesday after the Kiwis reduced them to 69 for five in 25 overs. His record breaking 127 run stand for the sixth wicket with Angelo Mathews took the team out of jail and Sri Lanka went on to post a 96 run win.

Samaraweera was thankful to the team management for retaining confidence in him that he can deliver the goods in ODI cricket. "The team management deserves a lot of credit as they insisted that I am good enough to play in the ODI team. They wanted me not to do any changes and continue to play the way I do in Test cricket. I was told that I could pick up on the strike rate if I spend some time in the middle.

"A lot of people felt that I was not good enough to play ODI cricket and that created a lot of pressure. But the fact that I scored successive hundreds against New Zealand in the Tests gave me some confidence. After getting to 50 here, I felt I could play some shots and that paid off," he added.

"This is the first time I got a decent run in one-dayers. Previously, I played one game and used to sit out. But this time I got a decent run in ODI cricket. There was some pressure after Kumar and Kandamby got out. Angelo deserves a lot of credit. All what we wanted was to get to 200 as it’s not easy to chase anything above 200 here under lights."