As the Sri Lankans swaggered towards the field for the first net session after their biggest win at home, they, like the fort in the background of the Galle stadium, had a majestic aura surrounding them. Post-SSC, there is a certain buzz about them. The catering staff at the clubhouse put the evening snacks on backburner and the construction workers, perched atop the building, took an untimely break. There had been so many performers in the Lankan team from the first Test, it was tough to describe the fans’ interest with the usual ‘all eyes on’ prefix.

Ajantha Mendis waved to labourers on the top floor. Muttiah Muralitharan got busy giving sound bytes to be at a venue where he collects bucket loads of wickets. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene, fresh from his Bradmanesque show at the SSC, shook a few officious hands on the way to the central square. While Tillakaratne Dilshan, delighted by his career-saving ton, was full of beans on the field.

In the middle of these performers, there was one centurion from the previous Test who went about his job unnoticed. As was the case at the SSC where his 127 got lost in the crowd of runs, Thilan Samaraweera didn’t trigger collective turning of heads nor the outstanding middle order batsman stood out on field.

The quintessential backroom boy’s ton might haven’t been too significant a contribution, but in it meant a lot for the batsman on a comeback trail, trying to cement his place in the Test side. He happens to be one of a rare breed of cricketers who are Test specialists and that, in turn, has meant existence of obscurity as they don’t figure in the highly visible arena of shorter version. Samaraweera made his ODI debut in 1998 but a highest of 33 from 17 games meant he wasn’t cut out for the slam-bang variety.

... contd.