Sri Lanka veteran player Rangana Herath (Rangayya) is all set to hang up his boots from the longest format of the game. The 1st Test match between Sri Lanka and England in the second week of November will be his last of his career. Coincidentally, Herath also made his Test match debut for Sri Lanka at the same venue in September 1999!
Herath picked up a good number of 35 five-wicket hauls and also has nine 10-fers in his 92-match Test career. Rangayya was expected to retire after the completion of the upcoming 3-match Test series against England. However, he has now made up his mind to retire just after the 1st Test match.
“Herath had made a request to retire after the first Test in Galle. It is entirely up to him and we will respect his decision,” said a Sri Lanka official to a publication in Sri Lanka. Herath will retire with 93 Test matches to his name. He will become the third Sri Lankan player to retire with 93 Tests – Arjuna Ranatunga in 2000 and Aravinda de Silva in 2002 are the other Sri Lankan players to retire with exactly same number of Test matches.
Herath needs one more wicket to complete 100 Test wickets at Galle and to join an elite list. Muttiah Muralitharan (166 wickets at SSC, 117 wickets at Kandy and 111 wickets at Galle) and James Anderson (103 wickets at Lord’s) are the only two players till date to pick up 100 wickets at a single Test venue.
The 3-match Test series between Sri Lanka and England will be played at Galle (Nov 06-10), Pallekele (Nov 14-18) and at SSC (Nov 23-27). England’s last Test series victory in Sri Lanka came in the year 2001 under the leadership of Nasser Hussain – they won the three match series by a margin of 2-1. Let’s see if they can replicate that in 2018. Also, keep reading ReadScoops.com for more updates on the England tour of Sri Lanka.
