Sri Lanka’s first Test pro DS de Silva no more

One of Sri Lanka’s pioneer professional cricketers Somachandra de Silva (better known as DS de Silva) passed away at the age of 83 on Monday in London where he was residing bringing to an end the life of a player who was both an ardent on-field competitor and not without his share of controversy in retirement.

De Silva was a member of the Sri Lanka team that played its first ever Test match that was against England at the P Sara Oval in Colombo in 1982 that also made him the oldest Sri Lankan spin bowler to make his debut at the age of 39.

He subsequently went on to play 12 Tests taking 37 wickets as well as 41 ODIs for a tally of 32 scalps.

But after many years of being away from Sri Lanka cricket activities after retirement, De Silva ended up as the president of a government installed Interim Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2009 and had a story maiden Press conference when the administration manager of SLC, BH Perera, invaded the floor and demanded that his voice be heard by journalists who were critical of him (Perera).

In a major verbal confrontation De Silva and his secretary Nishantha Ranatunga ordered Perera to leave the Press conference that caused shockwaves in the establishment as Perera said he had the support of Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge and several other insiders before the politically installed De Silva who had the support of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the time.

De Silva was seen as a stop gap head of Sri Lanka Cricket that at the time was struggling to come to grips with the progress of cricket hitting rock bottom and pledged to overhaul the national team along with club and school cricket in a revolution.

“Let bygones be bygones and look ahead to the future and development of cricket for the next two years. I will not sit on a chair. I will go about and supervise the work”, he told journalists on the occasion.

He was also linked to bookies and had to defend himself for entering into marital bliss with the daughter of businessman, sports promoter and philanthropist EW Balasuriya.

“I am not a director there (at EW Balasuriya Group). I am married for 24 years, but my wife and son now live in England and I have no connection with bookies”, De Silva said on the occasion.

His exploits as both a spin bowler who was also technically correct as a batsman will be an undying memory in the annals of cricket in the island.