Herath set for a bow on his happy hunting ground
The spin warhorse needs just one more scalp to reach 100 wickets
Rangana Herath, the most successful left-arm spinner in history, will be looking to bring down the curtain on his long and glittering Test career with some big name England scalps in Galle this week. Sri Lanka’s Herath, aged 40, has taken five-wicket hauls against all the Test nations during his 19-year career and he stands 10th on the alltime bowlers’ list with 430 dismissals.
Picturesque Galle, which hosts the first match of the three-Test series beginning tomorrow, has always been a special venue for the spinner.
He made his international debut there against Australia in 1999, rejuvenated his career at the age of 31 by taking five wickets in Galle against Pakistan and, in 2016, claimed a hat-trick at the ground.
Now Herath, the last active Test player to have made his debut in the 1990s, needs one more scalp to reach 100 wickets. While injuries have limited recent appearances, he will be making one last effort to join Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan and England paceman James Anderson as the only bowlers to register a century of Test victims on the same ground.