Herath decides to call it quits

Colombo, October 22 

Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath, the most successful left-arm spinner in Test history, will retire after the series opener against England in Galle next month, the country’s cricket board said on Monday. The 40-year-old, who has been managing knee injuries for several years, will bring down the curtain on his glorious career at the same venue where he made his debut 19 years ago.

Sri Lanka Cricket said Herath had a discussion with board Chief Executive Ashley De Silva and the selectors and informed them of his decision to retire after the Test in Galle.

“We respect and support Rangana’s decision even though his retirement will be a big loss for Sri Lanka Cricket,” De Silva said in a brief SLC statement. “We wish to thank him for the invaluable contribution he has made to Sri Lanka Cricket.” 

Ahead of Sri Lanka’s two-match Test series against South Africa at home in July, Herath had said he was contemplating retirement in November. He retired from shorter formats in 2016.

Never the one to extract prodigious turn off the pitch like Sri Lankan spin great Muttiah Muralitharan could do, Herath relied more on his unrelenting accuracy and subtle changes in pace and flight to trouble batsmen.

For most of his career, he was overshadowed by Muralitharan, who took 800 Tests wickets before retiring from the format in 2010 - also at Galle.

His first 14 Tests yielded just 36 wickets as he struggled to keep his place in the side. It was only after he had turned 31 that Herath bloomed into a match-winning spinner for the island nation. 

• 430  Wickets Herath has picked in 92 Tests.. 
• 10  The spot he occupies on the list of most successful Test bowlers 
• 9 Number of times he has picked 10 wickets or more. Also, he has 34 five-wicket hauls

— Reuters