 He represented clubs at every level from under-13s to under-19s and beyond to senior level.His left-arm spinners and inventive batting action led him to perform extremely well for the Colombo Colts, but despite this the selectors favoured Rangana Herath and Niroshan Bandaratilleke.Hettiarachchi was given his chance in the 1997 tour of Sri Lanka, the 1998 tour of South Africa, and the tri-series in 1999 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.