da jogodeouro： Aravinda de Silva, the Sri Lanka’s highest run scorer in Tests and ODIs, ispreparing himself for the final chapter in a glorious career that hasspanned nearly two decades
CricInfo09-Feb-2003Aravinda de Silva, the Sri Lanka’s highest run scorer in Tests and ODIs, ispreparing himself for the final chapter in a glorious career that hasspanned nearly two decades.De Silva, now 37, the longest standing player in international crickethaving made his debut in 1984, has confirmed that he will retire from thegame immediately after the tournament.© CricInfo”My target was always to finish off my career at a World Cup and I’m glad Ihave got the opportunity of doing so,” said De Silva, who recently becamethe third player in history to score 9000 ODI runs.”Like any other World Cup, the priority is to try and win it. Myemphasis will be to try and contribute in whatever way I can to achieve theultimate goal of winning the World Cup.”Over the years de Silva developed a reputation for being a big match player,a trait that helped him win a recall to the one-day side last August aftertwo years in the wilderness.He admits that he is no longer the player he once was, warning that heshould not be expected to repeat his 1996 heroics when he won four man ofthe match awards and scored an unbeaten century in the final.”I can’t expect to do the things I did in the 1996 World Cup,” he said. “ButI am quite mobile at the moment and it’s only another maximum of 11 games togo and I want to give it 200 percent everytime. I know what my limitationsare. So I will have to try and push myself to the maximum and give my bestto the side.”Famed for his breathtaking strokeplay in his pomp, when he was driven by anapparently irrepressible urge to dominate, De Silva’s approach has changedsince his return to the side.”When I was out of the game for nearly two years it was very hard to comeback and do probably the same things you did in the past. You are fightingfor a place and your confidence level has dropped so much over the years,”said de Silva.© CricInfo”You have to establish yourself and it’s a different way you approach thegame: when you are confident, you will tend to play more shots and the riskelement will be a bit high but you come off in difficult situations moreoften than not. When you are not so confident you become a bit moretentative and you have to curb your game a lot more. I have curbed my game alot more than what I used to in the past,” he said.With this tournament being his last De Silva wants to just go out and enjoyhimself.”I have decided that I am not going to put any pressure on myself. I justwant to go out there and enjoy myself,” he said.De Silva said that he was quite confident with the ability of the presentteam, but what they lacked was a bit of experience, especially in thebowling.”Our bowling is something we have to be aware of. I think unless we have anexperienced bowling attack, especially in South African conditions, we willstruggle a little bit,” said De Silva.”The bowling is not as experienced as what it was in 1996. It is the fastbowlers who have to be more experienced to know how they have to bowl inthese conditions. That is something our side lacks at the moment and it isan area we have to focus really hard,” he said.