Wisden overview
As an offspinner, albeit an orthodox one, Thilan Samaraweera has lived in the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan, whose occasional absences through injury have provided Samaraweera with his few opportunities in international cricket. He is, however, a useful batsman - so useful, in fact, that he scored a century on Test debut and averaged 103 after eight matches. His flattish trajectory is suited to a defensive one-day role. He performed creditably in his first tournament in Sharjah – his second wicket was Azharuddin's – then took the match award as Sri Lanka successfully defended 181 against England under lights at Sydney. His three wickets that night included Graeme Hick, second ball. Samaraweera kept his place to play alongside Murali against Australia at Melbourne, but proved expensive and was dropped. He finally made his Test debut against India in Colombo in August 2001, and although his bowling was again overshadowed by Murali's, Samaraweera's 103 not out helped Sri Lanka to an innings victory and a 2-1 series win. Simon Wilde

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