Vaas to retire after Pakistan test series

By pratik
for Cricketain.com

Published: July 20, 2009

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Colombo: Sri Lanka’s most successful pacer Chaminda Vaas has decided to quit test cricket after the ongoing test series against Pakistan.

“I’m officially retiring from Test after the third Test against Pakistan but will continue playing one-day and Twenty20 matches till the 2011 World Cup,” Vaas told reporters at the Sinhalese sports club.

Earlier this month, Sri Lanka Cricket’s chief selector, Asantha De Mel had said that Vaas had a discussion with him and that the pacer had made up his mind to quit the longer version of the game.

Vaas, however, rubbished all the rumors at that time and after being ignored for the first 2 tests against Pakistan, he was recalled for the third and final test of the series.

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who had earlier announced that Vaas would get a farewell game, paid rich tribute to the pacer, who is the only third Sri Lankan after Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan to play more than 100 Tests.

“Vaasy is a true champion and probably the only Sri Lankan fast bowler who can be called a true legend of the game,” he said.

“Whoever replaces Vaasy in the bowling attack they will take years and years to reach the standards he has set — and maybe they never will,” Sangakkara said.

“He has got a great part to play in our one-day set-up until the World Cup in 2011 and maybe beyond it as long as he is fit,” he said.

Vaas made his test debut against Pakistan at Kandy in 1994 and has since then played in 110 tests, picking up 354 wickets at an average of 29.40. He has also proven himself as a capable batsman scoring 3085 test runs at an average of 24.48, including a century against Bangladesh.

Vaas has also been brilliant for Sri Lanka in the shorter version of the game. He has played 322 ODIs till date claiming 400 wickets at 27.53 besides scoring 2025 runs. He has also played six Twenty20 internationals.

Vaas, who is Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler after Muttiah Muralitharan, has always had the natural ability to swing the ball and showed throughout the career that only bowling fast isn’t sufficient to succeed at the International level. He has picked up heaps of wickets purely on the basis of swing and the skill with which he bowls.

Vaas has the distinction of taking the first ODI eight-for against Zimbabwe, which included a hat-trick and he had another hat-trick in Sri Lanka’s 2003 World Cup match against Bangladesh.

Called by many as the silent assassin because of his shy and reserved nature, he is one man who would be difficult for Sri Lanka to replace. There is no doubt that he is one of the finest fast bowlers of the current generation and he would definitely be missed by Sri Lanka and by world cricket as a whole.

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