Chaminda Vaas

He is a left arm swing bowler. Vaas opens the bowling for Sri Lanka and is noted for his indipper. Also among his arsenal is an off cutter which is well disguised. He has added reverse-swing to his armoury, a skill that has made him a consistent wicket-taker even on bland subcontinental pitches. Although his pace has dropped over the years, he has masterful control of line and length.

A past student of the prestigious St. Joseph's College in Colombo, he made his debut for the Sri Lankan cricket team in 1994. He made an impact in his first year of international cricket as he helped Sri Lanka to their maiden Test Match victory away from home, against New Zealand at Napier. Vaas took 5-47 in the first innings and 5-43 in the second.

In 2001-02 he took 26 wickets in a series win against the West Indies. This included a match haul of 14 wickets, a feat only achieved by two fast bowlers in the subcontinent, the other being Imran Khan. He was recently selected for the Afro Asia cup but dropped out due to county commitments.

At the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, held in the South Africa, Vaas nipped out 23 wickets, becoming the outright leading wicket taker in the tournament. This included a best of 6-25 against Bangladesh, where Vaas also took a hat-trick with the first three deliveries of the Bangladesh innings.

In 2004, Vaas was also selected for the ICC World XI at the inaugural ICC awards.

On 26 June 2007 he made his maiden test century, playing against Bangladesh he hit 100 not out in a total of 577-6 declared in Colombo. This came in his 97th Test Match, which at the time was a record for the most number of Tests before scoring a maiden century (since overtaken by Anil Kumble. Soon after in November 2007, Vaas played his 100th test match against England, in what was also Sanath Jayasuriya's final test match for Sri Lanka.

In August 2008, Vaas crossed yet another landmark, when he had Yuvraj Singh caught off his bowling in the fourth One Day match. Yuvraj Singh became Vaas' 400th ODI victim, by doing this Vaas joined the illustrious company of Wasim Akram,Waqar Younis and his team mate Muttiah Muralitharan as being the only bowlers in international cricket to have taken 400 ODI wickets.

He is now retired from Test Cricket, with the 3rd Test against Pakistan as his last Test Match.^[1]

Chaminda Vaas is Sri Lanka's most successful fast bowler ever, having taken over 300 Test wickets. He has been the head of the Sri Lankan bowling attack for many years. He achieved his 300th wicket on 12 December 2005 against India, becoming just the second Sri Lankan bowler to do so, after Muttiah Muralitharan. He has also taken 400 One Day International wickets, again only one of two Sri Lankans to do so. As of the 30th of March 2007 only 3 bowlers have taken more ODI wickets. His tally includes two hat tricks, the first against Zimbabwe which came in the middle of a devastating spell of 8 for 19, the best bowling figures in One Day Internationals; Zimbabwe was dismissed for 38 which was the lowest score in One Day Internationals. The other hat trick came in the 2003 World Cup against Bangladesh and was achieved with the first three balls of the game. This had never before been seen in One Day International cricket.

Vaas is also a useful batsman down the order, and has reached 3,000 Test runs, including 13 Test half-centuries and a century. Only 11 bowlers in Test history to have taken 200 wickets have scored more runs than Vaas[1].

As a fielder, he is noted for his strong arm.

He has joined Middlesex County Cricket Club for the 2007 cricket season as an Overseas registration. In 2009 he played some matches in P.Sen trophy for Mohun Bagan

He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church of Sri Lanka and prays before every game.^[2][3] He intended to become a priest at a young age but believed that God wanted him to play cricket instead: "I seriously considered going into the priesthood, which would have meant 12 to 14 years of study. But then cricket began to take over. I think that God created me as a cricketer, so I am happy that that's my calling."^[4]

The following table illustrates a summary of Test centuries scored by Chaminda Vaas

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

• 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team

• Chaminda Vaas at ESPNcricinfo
• Player Profile:Chaminda Vaas from CricketArchive

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