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- B.V.Swagath (GOLDEN DEBUT MATCH : India Vs Sri Lanka, 3rd Test Match at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, 2001)

Sinhalese Sports Club became the venue for the deciding test of the Three Test Series between hosts Sri Lanka and India. The 2^nd Test at Kandy saw India fight hard for victory to level the series. The first test at Galle was a huge 10 wicket victory for the Lankans. It was advantage to the home side which had a settled side unlike the Indian team which was depleted with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S.Laxman. Sri Lanka gave debut to the 25 year old all rounder Thilan Samaraweera, who was a passenger with the Lankans, until he was presented with an opportunity to play Test Cricket.

India began the test match well with an opening partnership of 97 between Ramesh and Das. But Murali began to weave his magic and India was soon bundled out on the 1^st day for a paltry 234 with Murali’s figures at 8/87. Sri Lanka batted well through Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene’s hundreds to take the score to 416/6. The plan for the Lankans was to take a big first innings lead and leave the rest to Muralitharan. Having waited a longtime in the dressing room, the debutant all rounder Thilan Samaraweera finally walked into bat after the fall of Jayawardene’s wicket at 416/6. By then, the Indian bowlers Zaheer, Prasad, Harbhajan and Bahutule were tired and it was the right time for the youngster to cash in and make an immediate impact. With the defiant Hashan Tillekaratne, Thilan survived some anxious moments and then took full toll of the tired stuff the Indians bowled at him through some blossoming drives and the two added a hundred run partnership for the 7^th wicket. Never in his innings did Samaraweera look like a debutant, he was so compact in his defence and his shots.

At tea, Sri Lanka was in a commanding position at 569/6 with Samaraweera batting exactly on 50. India took the 3^rd new ball, but that wasn’t going to stop Samaraweera from reaching a century on debut. Thilan Samaraweera became the 3^rd Sri Lankan to record a century on debut, the last player being Romesh Kaluwithrana against Australia in 1992. The innings was finally declared at 610/6 and Murali weaved his magic yet again in the 2^nd innings to win the Test Series 2-1 for Sri Lanka. Incidentally, Samaraweera has scored a huge bulk of his runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo. He now has 3 centuries, including the one on debut and 6 fifties, with the recent being against the Aussies, unfortunately ending in a losing cause.

With an innings of 103* in 170 balls with 10 fours in his very first test, Thilan Samaraweera of Sri Lanka becomes yet another addition to the CRICKETFUNDAS GOLDEN DEBUTS.

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