Hashan Tillakaratne appointed Cricket-aid executive director

Former Sri Lanka Test Cricket Captain Hashan Tillakaratne has been appointed as the Executive Director of Cricket-Aid, the official Tsunami disaster assistance programme of Sri Lanka Cricket.

Hashan who officially assumed duties as the Executive Director of Cricket-Aid on 1st February 2004 will oversee, and be overall in charge of the operations of Cricket-Aid, Cricket-Aid Camp Management, Cricket-Aid Village Project, and the Cricket-Aid Foster Parent Scheme.

A tough competitor, Hashan Tillakaratne was an important figure in Sri Lanka's emergence as an international cricketing force. He first came into prominence with a match-saving century against England B at Galle in 1986 whilst being a school cricketer.

An active member of all three departments of the game he marked his debut in ODI's during the 1986/87-cricket season playing against India at the Champions Trophy held in Sharjah. Three years later Hashan entered the test arena playing against Australia at Hobart.

Hashan who also performed the tedious task of wicketkeeper for Sri Lanka gave up his gloves in 1994, and became a fulltime batsman who provided strength to the Sri Lankan batting line-up at the middle order.

After being out of the national team for a period of nearly 2 years after the 1999 World Cup he was re-invited to join the national team in 2001 due to excellent batting performance in domestic cricket. Hashan was appointed Sri Lanka's Test Cricket Captain in April 2003 and led the team during his ten-match tenure.

When stepping down from the game in March 2004 Hashan had recorded 4545 test runs in 83 matches with a highest score of 204 not out and an average of 42.87. In the ODI arena too he made his mark by recording 3789 runs in 200 matches with a career best 104 and an average of 29.60.