the deliveries to the right length properly due to the ankle injury. He also played at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket tournament which was held in Australia. It was his final international appearance playing for Sri Lanka. de Silva also played Minor Counties cricket for Lincolnshire and Shropshire between 1976 and 1983. Following his retirement from international cricket, he later played club cricket in Melbourne for about five years initially with Northshore Geelong and later turned up for Ringwood. He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 49. He later became a coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team and also coached the Sri Lanka Under 19 team. In December 2007, he was appointed as the cricket advisor by the then Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa with the intention of promoting the sport in war affected northern areas of Sri Lanka especially in Jaffna. He also served as schools cricket development officer at the Sri Lanka Cricket. In 2009 he was appointed by the then sports minister Gamini Lokuge as the interim chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket and served in the position until 2012 for three years. During his tenure as chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket, Sri Lankan team performed well at international level whereas Sri Lanka reached the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup final and 2012 ICC T20 World Cup final. Sri Lanka also reached number 3 position in ICC Men's Test Team Rankings under his tenure. In 2014, he was also appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka as the Sri Lankan ambassador to Poland following the end of his three-year stint as SLC chairman. Controversies Question marks were raised regarding the construction of international cricket stadiums in Pallekele and Hambantota when he was the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket Board. He was alleged for political interference regarding the construction of Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in 2009 but he denied the allegations. In 2011, he was asked to resign by the then sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage due to corruption allegations within the SLC and accusations regarding Sri Lanka cricket spending on infrastructure facilities more than the budget to conduct the 2011 Cricket World Cup. References External links 1942 births Living people Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains All-Ceylon cricketers Sri Lankan cricket administrators