De Silva ends golden career

PORT ELIZABETH: Batsman Aravinda de Silva announced his retirement from all international cricket yesterday, moments after Sri Lanka’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Australia.

The 37-year-old played 93 Tests and 308 one-dayers and took part in five World Cups. He was the “Man-of-the-Match” with a century against Australia in the 1996 World Cup final when Sri Lanka won the trophy. Whatmore, speaking before yesterday’s 48-run defeat, said: “Aravinda has been a terrific player in the Sri Lanka team for a long, long time.” The 37-year-old right-hander made his debut against England at Lord’s in August 1984, playing against Ian Botham and David Gower. Team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan would have been 12 at the time. He made 6,361 Test runs at an average of 42.97. He made 9,284 one-day runs, the third highest individual tally in one-day history behind Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin. De Silva, who also had successful stints with Kent and Auckland, announced his Test retirement in October.