Chaminda Vaas to retire from Tests by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	M Muralitharan, WPUJC Vaas
Event:	Pakistan in Sri Lanka 2009

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DateLine: 19th July 2009

 

Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lanka fast bowler, has announced he will retire from Tests after the third match against Pakistan in Colombo starting Monday. He said he will continue to play one-dayers and Twenty20s till the 2011 World Cup.

 

The left-armer, however, declined to take questions, saying he would speak at the conclusion of the third Test which starts at the Sinhalese sports club here on Monday. The 110-Test veteran, who had been overlooked for the first two Tests, was drafted in for the final match despite Sri Lanka having taken a decisive 2-0 lead in the series.

 

Vaas has claimed 354 wickets at an average of 29.40 since his Test debut against Pakistan at Kandy in 1994, with 12 five-wicket hauls, and twice took 10 wickets in a match. The left-hander, who also scored 3,085 Test runs, is only the third Sri Lankan cricketer after Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan to play more than 100 Tests.

 

He has 400 wickets from 322 one-day internationals, including a hat-trick off the first three balls of the match against Bangladesh during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

 

Local media had speculated over the last month that Vaas was being eased out of the five-day game and would only play one-day and Twenty20 cricket.

 

The selectors ignored him for first two Tests against Pakistan even after spin master Muralitharan was ruled out due to a knee injury, leaving the bowling attack short of experience.