Thilan Samaraweera retires from international cricket ? Cricket News Update
Disappointed at his exclusion from the Test squad to take on Bangladesh at home, Thilan Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan middle-order batsman, has decided to quit international cricket but will continue to play at the first-class level.
The 36-year-old cricketer from Colombo, who has been a prolific run-getter for the Islanders in the longer format of the game over the years, was not selected for the on-going series, with the selectors looking to promote some of the younger talent.
The stylish batsman revealed that the selectors wanted him to play the series against Pakistan later this year, which is most probably going to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE); however, Samaraweera does not think it would be wise for him to wait for many months before calling it a day from the highest level of the sport.
"I was shocked with my omission from the squad against Bangladesh," the middle-order batsman expressed. "There was no point in waiting for nine months. I respect the decision of the selectors to go with young players and decided it was the right time for me to retire."
Samaraweera failed to deliver the goods in Sri Lanka?s recent tour of Australia, scoring merely 79 runs in three fixtures. However, the experienced cricketer has showed tremendous form at the first-class level this season, piling up 464 runs in just four matches at a superb average of 92.8 runs per innings.
The cricketer from Colombo further revealed that the selectors offered him to play a farewell Test against Bangladesh but Samaraweera declined the offer as he did not want to come in the way of a youngster.
"I never wanted a farewell match because if you're not good enough to be in the 15-man squad, there's nowhere in the world you can play in the first XI," Samaraweera added. "I didn't want to be selfish and deprive a youngster of his place by requesting to play in a farewell Test."
The right-hander represented his country in 81 Tests, having scored 5462 runs at an excellent average of more than 48 runs per innings, with the help of 14 hundreds and 30 half-centuries.
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