by Senadheera Jayakody

Created on: November 25, 2009   Last Updated: November 27, 2009

He is the world record holder for best bowling performance in an inning in One Day International cricket. He is one of the leading wicket takers in both Tests and ODIs. Also he is the best fast bowler ever produced by Sri Lanka. Chaminda Vaas is a legendary cricketer who retired t from Test cricket recently.

Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas was born in 27 January 1974. He is a past student of St. Joseph's College in Colombo. He played his first international cricket game against Pakistan at Kandy in 1994. His cricket career was lifted to a new level when he anchored the Sri Lanka's first victory that was recorded away from home in the same year against New Zealand. Vaas took 5-47 in the first innings and 5-43 in the second in the Napier Test match. That was a time that Sri Lanka was looking to fill their gaps in their fast bowling attack. Chaminda was the perfect fill for the gap.

His bowling performance was quite exceptional. He has picked 355 wickets in 111 matches with an average of 29.58 runs per wicket in Test cricket. The best bowling performance was 7 for 71 runs in an innings and 14 for 191 runs in a match. As a batsman he has scored 3089 Test runs with a century and 13 half centuries that cemented him as a one of best all rounder of the game. In ODI matches he has scored 2025 runs with a one half century. In ODIs he has taken 400 wickets in 322 matches with the best performance of 8 wickets for just 19 runs and it is the world record for the best bowling figures in ODI. That was recorded against Zimbabwe and in the same match Zimbabwe collapsed to a total of 38 which is the lowest total in ODIs. Only three other bowlers have managed to cross the elite milestone of 400 wickets in ODIs.

His bowling performance was remarkable when considering the fact that there is almost no support from most of the subcontinent grounds for fast bowlers where he played. In later years in his career he has the reputation of claiming a wicket frequently in the very first over of the match. Chaminda Vaas also owns two hat tricks. One against Zimbabwe and the other was against Bangladesh in 2003 World Cup.

He has been an outstanding cricketer in Sri Lanka for over 15 years and one of the strongest contributors of the team behind many of their achievements.

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