Bipin Dani
The parents Nishantha De Silva and his house-wife Anusha were "not surprised" when the selectors named their son Raveen De Silva to lead the U-19 team for the tour of England.
"We were not surprised as he was always a leading contender among others. Captaincy is not a strange task for him over the years and he has been on the job in all the age categories in college and also at District and province levels", the father, speaking over the telephone for the SLC office, where he came to drop his son, said on Sunday morning.
"But yes, it was a long awaited dream that has come true. A lot of hard work and commitment he had put into the game finally paid for him. Awarding national captaincy is a great privilege for any player and he deserved the duty. He is a team player so he will get the support of everyone", he added.
Raveen's predecessor, Dunith Wellalage has been playing in the senior team and the new captain's family is also hoping that the history will repeat.
"Most of the time he got the opportunity to play with senior players and that was very helpful to grab useful tips from a younger age. This U-19 England tour is very important for all players because this is the last opportunity they have in their school career and I am sure Raveen will use his previous experience to play to reach the national level".
"As parents, we were very delighted when we heard the message and strongly believe that he is capable of doing a great job".
Interestingly, Raveen's elder brother, Avishka, who lives in Melbourne with his wife Samadhi Dissanayake also plays club cricket there. "Avishka played for college in Sri Lanka. He is also a top-order batsman with a useful right-arm off-spinner, the father, who works as a General Manager at Oviklo International - Logistics company, added.
