Sri Lanka’s recent victory over the West Indies included a breakthrough performance from Milinda Siriwardana.

The left-arm spinning all-rounder was described as a ‘great find’ by his captain Angelo Matthews in the wake of the 72-run triumph, which was secured against the odds having been bowled out twice in the match for little over 200 runs.

Siriwardana contributed scores of 68 and 42 from number six in the order as well as taking five for 61 with the ball.

It was a performance to suggest that - despite making his international debut in July, followed by his Test bow in the West Indies three months later, both at the age of 29 - the much travelled Nagodian is intent on making up for lost time.

"Milinda is a great find for us - he has contributed with bat, ball and in the field," Mathews said.

"He's been a brilliant player in past couple of months in ODIs, and coming into the Test arena showed no nerves at all.

“He was just cruising through with his batting. His bowling also came in handy, we needed someone who can bowl a few. He is more than a part-timer.

"We needed someone batting in the middle order to roll his arm and Milinda has improved dramatically in the past few months with his bowling," Mathews continued.

"He's worked really hard with Piyal Wijetunga, the spin-bowling coach. The effort he put in at the nets is unbelievable.

“He deserves what he got today. He's had a brilliant match and I hope he will go from strength to strength."

Cricketers making late breakthroughs to the international scene having seen out the majority of their 20s playing domestically is far from a rarity in the modern day game, as Graeme Swann, Chris Rogers and Yasir Shah will testify.

With Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara each having retired in the last year, taking with them 1,236 matches of international experience, all bets have since been off with regards selection in the Sri Lanka top six.

Siriwardana, who scored one run and collected a modest two for 73 on his Test debut a week earlier, believes his performances in first class cricket have peaked at just the right time.

"Batsmen do fail sometimes - that's a normal thing," he said.

"I didn't think of my debut as a special game - it was just one match. I had a lot of confidence coming into this match, thanks to the practice sessions.

"Earlier maybe I was considered a limited-overs player," the all-rounder added.

"But in the recent domestic season, I made a few technical adjustments and showed I could do well in the longer format as well.

"I had more runs than anyone else this season. I think I got the perfect opportunity at the right time.

“A player should get that chance when he's scoring runs, so I got that. I'm not disappointed I didn't play internationals earlier."

Despite Siriwardana’s half-century, Sri Lanka were all out for 200 having won the toss and elected to bat in Colombo as West Indies' off-spinner Jomel Warrican announced himself on the world stage with debut figures of four for 67.

The visitors were all out for 163 in reply as Siriwardana chipped in with two wickets after right-arm paceman Dammika Prasad destroyed the middle-order en route to figures of four for 34.

The craziness of the fixture seemed to know no bounds when West Indies' part-time twirler Kraigg Braithwaite took six for 29 having taken just one wicket in 23 previous Test appearances.

Sri Lanka were 200 all out and - although Braithwaite found out just how fickle cricketing fortunes can be when he was lbw to Prasad prior to the close on day three, 244 remained very much within reach, even when the whole of day four was wiped out by rain.

At 80-1 with Darren Bravo, briefly an Outlaw in 2011, on his way to a half-century, Jason Holder’s men were clear favourites.

They were, however, put in such a subsequent spin by Siriwardana and his fellow spinner Rangana Herath that eight wickets fell for 58 runs.

Herath finished with 4 for 56 and is now just seven wickets short of 300 in Test cricket.

"From the very first day the pitch had started turning, so we knew that the conditions were only getting worse," Sri Lanka captain Matthews added.

"We didn't start too well today and bowled badly, but came back into the game after Milinda got a couple of wickets.

“Herath's two wickets in one over - dismissing Bravo and Denesh Ramdin - was crucial."

 

England are returning to the scene of their Ashes triumph in 2016 for Royal London One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Don't miss the opportunity to watch some of the best players in the world go toe-to-toe in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge and secure your seats now.