Aravinda de Silva visits Alleyn’s

Cricket fans were delighted to welcome the cricketing legend Aravinda de Silva to Alleyn’s yesterday.

There was huge excitement among Alleyn’s cricketers and cricket fans across the school as we welcomed Aravinda de Silva, to Alleyn’s. The former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who helped Sri Lanka to win the 1996 Cricket World Cup, took a tour of the school with two avid cricketers, Zoé in Year 11 and Christian in Year 12.

The cricketer then watched a training session and offered a few tips to a group of lucky young cricketers in a nets session. The main picture shows a promising young player carefully listening out for any gems of cricketing advice from Aravinda.

Our very own Dr de Silva was pleased to have been able to welcome his relative to Alleyn’s: “My claim to fame is that Aravinda and I are related; although we share the same surname ‘de Silva’, the closer familial connection is recognised by our first names that we have in common, ‘Pinnaduwage,’ which is appropriately known as one’s ‘House Name’.”