da heads bet： The main reason for not recommending the renewal of Aravinda De Silva’s contract was the comparatively small number of Test Matches involving Sri Lankathis season, one of the members of the selection committee has revealed
Rex Clementine Fernando07-Jun-2001The main reason for not recommending the renewal of Aravinda De Silva’s contract was the comparatively small number of Test Matches involving Sri Lankathis season, one of the members of the selection committee has revealed.Sri Lanka’s contracted players’ names were published recently but SriLanka’s 1996 World Cup hero’s name was not among them.Sri Lanka will play only six Tests in the next six months and onlythe series against England has been confirmed until May next year but in that time there are many One-Day Internationals. Aravinda, the highestrun-getter for Sri Lanka in both forms of the game, has not been a regularmember of Sri Lanka’s one-day squad since Sri Lanka’s dismal performance inthe 1999 World Cup in England.Though he has not been contracted, Aravinda is among the pool ofplayers training for the Indian tour. That means if he plays in any of thegames, a payment will be made to him according to the number of his appearances.It is believed that Aravinda’s attitude has also counted against him. Last year when Aravinda was called to join the tour party in South Africa in place of the injured Upul Chandana halfway through the tour, he said he was not prepared to go due to lack of match practice. However, later he agreed to go and played in the last two ODIs and the the last Test in South Africa.This season he has played in just four Premier League games for his club NCC, scoring 197 runs at an aveage of 39.40.