Aravinda de Silva has told the Sri Lankan selectors that he does not wish to be considered for inclusion in the Test squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa, effectively bringing his Test career to a close. de Silva had previously announced that he would retire from all forms of international cricket following next year's World Cup.

Sri Lanka are scheduled to play two Tests and five ODIs in South Africa later this month, and de Silva informed the selectors that he only wanted to be considered for the one-day matches.

In recent years de Silva has made it clear that the longer form of the game was of less interest to him than one-dayers. His Test career had seemed over when he was dropped in 1999 after question-marks were raised over his fitness and weight, but after losing 11kg he was recalled for last summer's England tour. In his final Test, against Bangladesh in July, he scored an unbeaten double century.

In 93-Tests he scored 6,361 runs at an average of 42.97, with 20 centuries and 22 fifties. In 288 one-day internationals he has amassed 8803 runs at 35.49, with 11 hundreds and 60 fifties. His deceptively gentle offspin also earned him 92 wickets at 39.81. Only Sachin Tendulkar (11,544) and Mohammad Azharuddin (9378) have scored more runs in ODIs.

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