Ginigalgodage Ramba Ajit de Silva (born 12 December 1952), or Ajit de Silva, is a former Sri Lankan international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played four

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

and six

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s for Sri Lanka, bowling accurate slow left arm spin.

International career

He proved an important member of the national squad for several years until 1982/83, when he toured with the rebel Arosa Sri Lanka team to

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. Due to this, he was excluded from world cricket, along with the rest of the players on that tour. This effectively finished his first-class career, beginning in November 1973, in which he claimed 161 wickets (av 27.44). He played a crucial part in Sri Lanka's first ODI victory on home soil – against

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in 1982. Sri Lanka had batted first, setting England 216 to win, and

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning 1973 until 1997, he was ...

and

Geoff Cook Geoffrey Cook (born 9 October 1951) is a former English cricketer, who played in seven Test matches and six One Day Internationals from 1981 to 1983. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, stated "A player held in great respect by his fellow professi ...

had set a good platform as the score moved to 109 for no loss. However, de Silva removed both openers (stumped by Mahes Goonatilleke), four players were run out, and England lost by three runs. In 1982 de Silva joined a "Rebel tour" to

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-era South Africa. In the series the "AROSA" Sri Lankans were soundly beaten. de Silva himself struggled with stress and had a breakdown on tour. He was given a 25-year ban by the Sri Lankan cricket authorities for participating in the rebel tour which was a breach of the boycott of South Africa by global sporting bodies.

References

1952 births Living people Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Dharmasoka College People from Ambalangoda Cricketers from Southern Province, Sri Lanka {{SriLanka-cricket-bio-1950s-stub