|
|
HOME | CRICKET |
GALLERY |
| |
|
 The year was 1981, the venue: Sri Lanka. A young boy had been coached by a visiting stalwart from Middlesex, Simon Hughes. Almost two decades later, Hughes memorably recalled how his coaching failed remotely to improve the already perfectly groomed techniques of any of his pupils, especially this diminutive, bow-legged kid, aged 15, who looked about nine and 'kept whipping across my best deliveries in practice, flicking them through midwicket with a flourish. Then he laid back and pulled virtual half-volleys.' Hughes went on: 'I told him if he didn't play straighter and with more restraint he would never get far. He smiled and did that funny wobble with the head that Asians do and blocked a couple of deliveries with extreme care. Then he just carried on pinging the ball everywhere.' The boy was Aravinda De Silva. And that was just the beginning. |