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One-day cricket has always been a batsman's game. It was invented purely for entertainment. In that context Aravinda de Silva figures in the top rung. His method of scoring runs off the best bowling attacks has bracketed him among the top three batsmen in the world.

He is undoubtedly Sri Lanka's only truly all-wicket batsman, armed with the cut, the hook and the pull that can produce runs even on bouncy tracks.

Although he is also capable of playing the waiting game, as he has proved in Test cricket, it is as a strokeplayer in the one-day version that he is often without parallel.

Last Tuesday, de Silva became only the third batsman in the history of one-day cricket to pass 8,000 runs when he made 55 against India in the Pepsi three-nation tournament match played at Pune.

Only former West Indian opener Desmond Haynes and Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin have had the honour of accumulating such a vast amount of runs before de Silva. To join this small select band is in itself a truly great achievement.

In a long and illustrious international career dating back to 1984, de Silva was in the early part, brilliant and reckless. It earned him the tag of 'Mad Max', a reflection on his frustrating early-career habit of self-destructing when set, especially against quality opposition.

All that changed during the 1996 World Cup, where he was 'Man of the Match' in both semi-final and final, two performances which enabled his country to emerge champions in one-day cricket. He had an excellent run in the competition accumulating 448 runs which apart from his unbeaten 107 in the final against Australia, included 145 off 115 balls with five sixes against Kenya, the highest of his 11 centuries.

What the competition proved was that he was the man for the big occasion. He had proved it a year before, with a brilliant display in the Benson and Hedges Cup final for Kent against Lancashire at Lord's. With no less than 26 'Man of the Match' awards under his belt - the highest by any Sri Lankan, de Silva faces his biggest challenge next month when his country defends the World Cup in England. If Sri Lanka are to retain the the title, which only the West Indies have done in the history of the competition, de Silva will need to come up with batting performances which only he is capable of producing.