Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath (; ; born 19 March 1978), known as Rangana Herath is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played all forms of cricket and was a former Test cricket captain for Sri Lanka. Considered one of the best spinners ever, Herath is the most successful left arm bowler in Test cricket history. Herath was a member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
Herath is the first left-arm spinner to take 400 Test wickets. On 10 February 2018 during Bangladesh tour, Herath became the most successful left-arm bowler in Test cricket history by surpassing Wasim Akram. He has the longest Test cricket career for Sri Lanka with a span of 19 years from 1999 to 2018.
On 29 May 2016, Herath became the third Sri Lankan bowler to take 300 wickets in Test cricket history after Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. On 8 November 2016, Herath became only the third bowler in history to take five-wicket hauls against all Test-playing nations. On 2 October 2017, he became the second Sri Lankan bowler to take 400 Test wickets. He is the oldest player to reach 350 as well as 400 Test wickets.
On 23 October 2016, Herath was announced as captain for Sri Lanka's tour of Zimbabwe. Angelo Mathews, the regular captain, was injured. With this he became the oldest Sri Lankan player to lead a Test team for the first time and from any country since Tom Graveney in 1968.
On 22 October 2018, Herath announced his retirement from international cricket after the first Test at Galle against England. On 6 November 2018, he played in his final Test in Galle. In the first innings of the match, he became the third bowler to take 100 Test wickets at the same venue, when he dismissed the England captain Joe Root. After the match, Herath said that it was "the right time" to retire, finishing his career with 433 Test wickets, the most for a left-arm spin bowler.
Personal life and early and domestic career
Herath was born on 19 March 1978, in the small village of Waduwawa, Kurunegala, on the southeastern tip of the Northwestern Province as the second of the family. His elder brother is Deepthi Herath. He was promoted to opening batting in school times, and acted as a pacer, until his coach told him to start spin bowling due to a height problem. Before starting professional career, Herath was working at Sampath Bank as a clerk, when he met the brother of Chandika Hathurusingha.
Herath started his cricket career at his first school Mayurapada Central College, Narammala. Later, he moved to Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala. Having made his first-class debut for Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club in the 1996–97 cricket season, Rangana Herath currently represents Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in Sri Lankan first-class cricket. He represented Moors Sports Club from 1998/99 to 2009/10 in local first-class cricket. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Moors Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He also played for Surrey during the latter part of the 2009 English cricket season. In April 2010, Herath joined Hampshire, where he played in the first half of the 2010 County Championship.
In March 2018, Herath was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.
International career
Early career
Herath made his Test debut at Galle International Stadium, Sri Lanka against Australia in 1999. His One Day International debut came five years later in 2004, against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. During the 2016 England series, Herath was ranked as the 13th best Test match bowler in the world, having hit the heights of second in the list in 2012.
Although Herath made his Test debut back in 1999, he never came to the prominence as a leading spinner until the retirement of Muralitharan. Herath made a successful comeback to Test cricket in 2009 against Pakistan and took over the mantle of Sri Lanka's main spin bowler from Muralitharan. Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene rated Herath as Sri Lanka's number one bowler after the retirement of Muralitharan.
Establishment in squad
After playing a secondary role in the team for many years behind the shadow of Muttiah Muralitharan, Herath ascended to prominence against Australia in 1999 with a "mystery" ball. He broke into the national side after an impressive tour to England. Herath while playing in two Test matches in the series, deceived the visiting Australians with a delivery that darted the other way. He took six Test wickets against the Australians. Herath made a comeback to the Test side, taking 15 wickets in the 3-match Test series vs. Pakistan in Sri Lanka, in addition to winning the man-of-the-match award in the first Test. Herath then took 8 wickets in the second Test in the two-match Test-series between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Sri Lanka. This led Sri Lanka to a win, and a series victory.
Herath played only in the Test at Galle during the home series against India. Though Sri Lanka won, he only managed to take the wicket of Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh in that match. Herath was recalled for the second Test match against the West Indies in November 2010. In that match, played at the newly renovated R. Premadasa Stadium, he took three wickets in the first innings. In the second Test of Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in December 2011, Herath took nine wickets and won the Man of the Match award. Sri Lanka won the match by 208 runs; it was their first Test win in South Africa.
Herath took 12 wickets during the first Test match of the 2012 England Test series in Sri Lanka. His match winning performance helped him to secure the "Man of the Match" award in Galle. Herath was England's latest spin tormentor with figures of 6 for 74 in the first innings and 6 for 97 in the second, confirming Sri Lanka's victory against the touring English team.
Memorable 2014 World Twenty20
Herath memorably took figures of 5–3 against New Zealand in the 2014 World T20, a spell that helped Sri Lanka qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament. Sri Lanka eventually won the tournament and Herath's spell was named the Wisden Men's T20I spell of the decade in 2019.
Breaking records
In the first innings of the second Test against Pakistan, Herath took nine wickets for 127 runs, the best figures for a left-arm bowler in Test cricket. He was man of the match in both Test matches and also man of the series.
During the Sri Lankan cricket team against Pakistan in the UAE in 2013–14, Herath became the first Sri Lankan and 16th overall to be dismissed for a king pair in Test history.
For his performances in 2014, he was named in the World Test XI by ICC.
In the second innings of the first Test against India in 2015, Herath took seven wickets for 48 runs, where Sri Lanka only had 175 runs behind India's total of 375. Herath was only able to take a single wicket in the first innings and had a fairly poor performance in the first innings. But his strong comeback in the second innings with other new spinner Tharindu Kaushal, India were all out for 112 runs, where Herath took 7 for 48 and Kaushal with 3 for 47. This was his 22nd five-wicket haul in Tests.
In the first match at Galle against West Indies in 2015, Sri Lanka posted a huge total of 484 with the help of two centuries. In the bowling, Herath took his 23rd five-wicket haul in Test cricket and the very first against West Indies. He finished with 6/68 runs and West Indies were all out for 251. This gave windies to keep follow-on and they came in to bat for the second innings just on the third day. Just as in the first innings, Herath was all over the Windies, where they all out for 227 runs, giving Sri Lanka a huge win by an innings and 6 runs. Herath took 4/79 in second innings, finished his fifth ten-wicket haul in Test cricket and adjudged man of the match award as well. The second match was a show of bowlers. Both teams do not score more than 250 in each innings, and Herath only took a single wicket in the first innings. West Indies required 245 runs to win the match, but Herath strikes again, picked up 4 wickets and sealed the game for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the series 2-0 and Herath was the Player of the Series.
In England tour 2016, Herath took two wickets in the first Test at Leeds, but Sri Lanka lost the match by an innings and 88 runs. In the second match at Chester-Le-Street, Herath took his 300th Test wicket by dismissing Steven Finn, caught by himself. He became the third Sri Lankan after Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to reach 300 Test wickets in history. He also played well with the bat scoring 61 whilst batting with Dinesh Chandimal before being out to James Anderson.
On 11 February 2018, against Sri Lanka, Herath overtook the legendary Wasim Akram's wicket tally in Test cricket to become the highest wicket-taking left-arm bowler.
Limited overs retirement
Herath revealed his intentions to retire from ODIs and T20Is after 2016 ICC World Twenty20. Sri Lanka exited from the World T20 in the first round and Herath announced his retirement on 17 April 2016. This was largely due to the fact that, Herath was picked to the recent limited over tournaments game after a game and with the few years to come with his age, he wants to focus more towards Test cricket. Until retirement, Herath played 71 ODIs, took 74 wickets with the average of 31.91. He played 17 T20Is, where took 18 wickets with the best bowling figures of 5 for 3 against New Zealand in 2014 World T20I.
Dominating Test arena
Herath showed his talents in home soil back against Australian in the Warne Murali Series in 2016. In the first Test, he took 4 four wickets in first innings and match-winning five-wicket haul in the second innings. Sri Lanka eventually won the match by 106 runs, which is only the second win against Australia in 27 Test matches by Sri Lanka. Herath took 29 innings to reach seven fifers in the fourth innings of Tests by 29 innings; this is the fewest number of innings to reach the milestone, beating the record previously held by Muttiah Muralitharan, who took 35 innings to do so. Harath's bowling figures of 5 for 58 in the match is also the best bowling figures in a Test innings in Pallekele.
During the second Test at Galle, Herath took a hat-trick by dismissing Adam Voges, Peter Nevill, and Mitchell Starc in the Australian first innings. He became the second Sri Lankan after Nuwan Zoysa, and first Sri Lankan spinner to take a Test hat-trick. He is also the second left-arm orthodox bowler ever to take a Test hat trick after Johnny Briggs in 1892. In the process he became the oldest cricketer to take a hat-trick in Test matches.
In the third Test at SSC, Herath took his 25th and 26th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. This is his fourth consecutive Test against Australia in where he has taken four or more wickets in the opponent's first innings. His 25th fifer mark is the highest by a bowler to take fifers since 2009. In this period, no other bowler has taken even 20 such hauls. His ten wicket haul in the match gave the series whitewash against Number 1 ranked Australia for the first time in history. He took 13 wickets in the last Test match and 28 wickets in the series. Both these wicket figures are record for a Sri Lankan against Australia.
Captaincy
After usual captain Angelo Mathews injured during ODI series against Australia, vice captain Dinesh Chandimal was also injured during T20I series of the same tour. With these major players absent, Herath was appointed as the captain of Test team for the Zimbabwe tour. On 29 September 2016, he led the team in a Test match, becoming the oldest player to lead a Test team for the first time since Somachandra de Silva in 1983. The match was won by Sri Lanka, where Herath led from the front, took 6 wickets in the match.
On 8 November 2016, Herath took his 27th five wicket haul, becoming the third overall to take five-wicket hauls against all Test-playing nations, after Muttiah Muralitharan and Dale Steyn. He took 13 wickets in the second Test match, recording best bowling figures against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. He dismissed Carl Mumba by taking 350th wicket, recorded as the oldest player to achieve the feat. Only Muralitharan has taken more 12-wicket hauls than Herath, who has five to Murali's six. Sri Lanka whitewashed Zimbabwe 2-0 and Herath adjudged man of the match for his impressive performance. For his performances in 2016, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC and Cricinfo.