Ajith de Silva was a highly rated left arm orthodox spinner within his homeland. It was a great disappointment to his supporters when he failed to make a significant impact at the highest level. De Silva was selected in the inaugural test team that played England at Colombo. He had a steady, though somewhat disappointing debut taking two wickets in each innings, bowling with admirable accuracy but failing to give the ball sufficient flight on what was a favorable wicket for spin bowling. It was expected that along with D.S. de Silva, he would form a spin combination that would hold Sri Lanka in good stead during its formative years in test cricket. However, this was not the case, his returns in three other tests were below expectations. On the tour to Pakistan he bowled accurately at Karachi and Faisalabad but struggled to dismiss test quality batsman. He ended any further chance of representing Sri Lanka when in 1982/83 he joined the tour to South Africa. (Contributed by Johann P Jayasekera , Sep 1999)

• Sri Lanka come of age (Apr 0, 1982)