In another bad news for Sri Lankan cricket, veteran Rangana Herath has decided to retire from test cricket after the first test match against England to be played from 6th of November 2018 at Galle International Stadium, Galle. Playing in front of his home crowd, Herath would be looking to sign off with a bang and help the hosts Sri Lanka win the first test match.
Herath made his test debut on 22nd September 1999 against Australia at Galle. He is the most successful left-arm bowler in test cricket to surpass Pakistani legend, Wasim Akram. Herath has taken 430 wickets from 92 matches (168 innings) with 34 five wicket hauls and 10 wickets in a match 9 times.
The absence of Herath after the first test match against England will further deplete the side. With his abilities to deceive batsmen with his flight and variations made one of the best bowlers in the world. He has been struggling off late with injuries and not played a full three test match series since January 2017.
In 2017, Herath could not play two full India series due to injuries. In 2018, Hearth played the first two test matches against West Indies and then did not play the third test due to injury. He has been the backbone of Sri Lankan bowling after the retirement of Muralitharan. In 2017, Herath surpassed New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori of 362 wickets in test matches.
With Herath retirement, Dilwuran Perera would be the lead spinner along with 3 spinners, Lakshan Sandkan, Akila Danajaya, Malinda Pushpkumara. He took 230 wickets in test matches after the age of 35 years.
Herath would move up to 7th of all time wicket takers in test cricket if he picks five wickets more in his last test at Galle.
He has contributed immensely in ODI cricket for Sri Lanka picking up 74 wickets from 71 matches with an economy of 4.37 runs per over and also performed well in T20I cricket taking 18 wickets from 17 matches with best figures of 3 runs for 5 wickets.
Sri Lankan cricket is currently struggling in ODI format with losses and Herath would be a big shoe to fill in coming times.
