However, Vaas is easily as his record shows, the most penetrative,
successful and prolific paceman Sri Lanka have had in 24 years
of Test match cricket.
And furthermore, he is the Emerald Island’s only realistically
match-winning bowler, after Muttiah Muralitharan (635 Test wickets,
as I write).
Vaas rarely finds home pitches to his liking -- but seams and
swings the ball with great skill -- his trademark delivery/ball
being the late in-dipper.
He was responsible for giving Sri Lanka their first win in an
overseas Test, when he outbowled the New Zealand seamers in green
conditions at Napier in 1994/95 with figures of: 5/47 and 5/43.
Born in Mattumagala, Sri Lanka, on January 27, 1974, Vaas made
his First-Class debut in 1990/91; Test debut in 1994/95; ODI debut
in 1993/94; county debut for Hampshire in 2003, Worcestershire
in 2005.
After living seven years in the shadow of Muralitharan, he made
a quantum leap in 2001/02, with 26 wickets (average 15.42) in
the 3-0 home rout of Carl Hooper’s West Indies -- including
his second 10 wickets in a match haul: 7/120 and 7/71 at SSC Colombo.
He joined the great (Akbar) Imran Khan as the only fast bowler
ever to have taken 14 wickets in a match in the sub-continent.
Vaas’ was a devastating exhibition of reverse swing -- and
lo and behold! six days thereafter he returned to the same parched
turf of Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club ground for an ODI
match against Zimbabwe.
The results were even more spectacular as he became the first
Sri Lankan to take a One-Day hattrick -- bowled Zimbabwe out for
the lowest ever total in ODI history -- 38, on his way to completing
the best ever ODI figures -- 8/19.
Vaas’ performance that day, what he later described as the
happiest of his life, encompassed all the ingredients of his sheer
class: relentless accuracy, lateral movement through the air and
subtle variations in pace and line.
All complemented by his bottomless stamina, that allowed him to
reel off eight overs on the trot in enevating tropical heat.
Although Vaas does not belong to the express pace league of fast
bowlers e.g.: Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Shane Bond, Fidel Edwards,
Mohammad Sami -- his wickets 351 in ODIs (average 26.87) and 306
in Tests (average 29.20) come instead from patiently exploring
his opponents weaknesses.
His pristine ability was and has been greatly enhanced from studying
videos/dvds and experimenting in the nets: Wasim Akram the God-father
of left-arm fast bowlers promised to teach him, but only after
he retired.
A strict Roman Catholic in a team when he started out that was
mostly made up of Buddhists, he had as a teen aspirations of becoming
a priest. Vaas is happily married to his wife of seven years Wasana
-- he is the proud father of a four-year-old girl and enjoys singing
Sinhalese love songs.
A career of 93 Tests was interrupted by two stress fractures in
his back and a serious ankle injury.
He is a regular at the gym and exercises vigourously -- Vaas has
also somewhat remodelled his bowling action.
Today, he is the complete champion left-arm quick-second in line
only to the indefatigable Wasim Akram in Test history.
As an effective late-order left-arm batsman, he’s closing
in on 2,500 runs in Tests -- it is also believed he has the longest
set of forenames (numbering 49 characters) and one of the shortest
surnames (numbering 4 characters) of any Test cricketer: WPUCJ
Vaas.
Check Playfair Cricket Annual 2006!
Highest Test score:
74 not out v Zimbabwe (Colombo) 2001/02.
Highest ODI score:
50 not out v Pakistan (Sharjah) 2001/01.
Highest First-Class score:
134 Colts v Burgher (Colombo) 2004/05.
|
