Dhananjaya’s Profound Misfortune … Squad for West Indies Tour is One Less

Item in Sunday Times, 27 May 2018 … http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2018/05/27/sports/no-replacement-dhananjaya

Sri Lanka’s cricket board will not replace allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva who withdrew from a tour of the West Indies following the murder of his father, officials said Friday.Ranjan de Silva, a local politician, was shot dead near Colombo late Thursday, hours be fore the team was due to leave for the three-match Test series in the West Indies.

Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva drives to stop the ball during the last day of their first test cricket match against Bangladesh in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad

“There will be no replacement for Dhananjaya,” a board official told AFP. “Instead of a 17-member squad, we will now have 16.” Sri Lanka Cricket said it will support the 26-year-old Dhananjaya “at this time of sorrow and grief”. Police said an investigation was underway but no arrests had been made. Sri Lanka will also miss opener Dimuth Karunaratne who fractured a finger while batting in the nets this month as he prepared for a domestic tournament.

Revised Sri Lanka squad: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Mahela Udawatte, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Roshen Silva, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lahiru Gamage, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, and Asitha Fernando. (AFP)

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from Island, 28 May 2018

Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva plays a shot during the third day of their first test cricket match against Bangladesh in Chittagong, Bangladesh, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Full name Dhananjaya Maduranga de Silva

Born September 6, 1991, Colombo

Current age 26 years 264 days

Major teams Sri Lanka, Badureliya Sports Club, Kandurata Maroons, Ragama Cricket Club, Sri Lanka A, Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, Sri Lanka Under-19s

Playing role Allrounder

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Height 5 ft 8 in

Education Debarawewa Central Hambantota, Mahanama College Colombo, Richmond College, Galle

Explore Dhananjaya de Silva’s performance

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct
Tests	13	25	2	1066	173	46.34	1833	58.15	4	2	135	6	7
ODIs	17	16	2	335	78*	23.92	451	74.27	0	3	38	0	8
T20Is	7	7	0	167	62	23.85	154	108.44	0	1	10	2	2
First-class	70	125	5	4608	173	38.40	7448	61.86	13	20	548	59	71
List A	55	53	3	1295	132	25.90	1602	80.83	3	4	155	12	26
T20s	36	35	4	1006	81*	32.45	743	135.39	0	8	97	31	16

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w
Tests	13	20	738	460	7	2/91	2/103	65.71	3.73	105.4	0	0
ODIs	17	12	240	212	4	2/35	2/35	53.00	5.30	60.0	0	0
T20Is	7	3	24	23	1	1/3	1/3	23.00	5.75	24.0	0	0
First-class	70	82	3762	2137	74	6/33	9/41	28.87	3.40	50.8	3	1
List A	55	40	955	742	21	2/18	2/18	35.33	4.66	45.4	0	0
T20s	36	19	233	307	10	2/10	2/10	30.70	7.90	23.3	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	Sri Lanka v Australia at Pallekele, Jul 26-30, 2016 scorecard
Last Test	Bangladesh v Sri Lanka at Dhaka, Feb 8-10, 2018 scorecard
Test statistics


ODI debut	Ireland v Sri Lanka at Dublin (Malahide), Jun 16, 2016 scorecard
Last ODI	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Cardiff, Jun 12, 2017 scorecard
ODI statistics


T20I debut	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (RPS), Jul 30, 2015 scorecard
Last T20I	South Africa v Sri Lanka at Cape Town, Jan 25, 2017 scorecard
T20I statistics


First-class debut	Badureliya Sports Club v Nondescripts Cricket Club at Colombo (NCC), May 6-8, 2011 scorecard
Last First-class	Dambulla v Colombo at Dambulla, Apr 21-24, 2018 scorecard
List A debut	Lankan Cricket Club v Badureliya Sports Club at Colombo, Dec 11, 2011 scorecard
Last List A	Colombo v Galle at Colombo (RPS), May 8, 2018 scorecard
T20s debut	Badureliya Sports Club v Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club at Colombo (SSC), Mar 27, 2012 scorecard
Last T20s	Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club v Galle Cricket Club at Katunayake, Feb 27, 2018 scorecard

Recent matches

Bat & Bowl	Team	Opposition	Ground	Match Date	Scorecard
0/14, 4	Colombo	v Galle	Colombo (RPS)	8 May 2018	LA
2	Colombo	v Kandy	Colombo (RPS)	5 May 2018	LA
0/21, 41	Colombo	v Dambulla	Colombo (RPS)	2 May 2018	LA
14, 15	Colombo	v Dambulla	Dambulla	21 Apr 2018	FC
2	Colombo	v Kandy	Hambantota	8 Apr 2018	FC
0/13, 66, 1/31	Colombo	v Galle	Hambantota	30 Mar 2018	FC
0, 1/16	Tamil Union	v Saracens	Katunayake	21 Mar 2018	LA
1/25, 122	Tamil Union	v Bloomfield	Colombo (Bloomfield)	18 Mar 2018	LA
0/15, 55	Tamil Union	v Galle CC	Katunayake	27 Feb 2018	T20
1/23, 0	Tamil Union	v SL Air SC	Welisara	25 Feb 2018	T20

Profile

A technically correct top-order batsman from the southern reaches of the island, Dhananjaya de Silva briefly caught the national selectors’ eye in 2015, then went on to have a bumper domestic season that marked him out for more intensive national duty. De Silva had been picked on potential in Sri Lanka’s mid-year T20s against Pakistan, in 2015, but didn’t quite convince he was a T20 batsman, hitting 45 off 47 balls across two innings. What followed, though, was an emphatic blooming