Birthday special: Chaminda Vaas – His top 5 spells in international cricket
Chaminda Vaas certainly ranks among the top left-arm seamers to have played the game. His inswingers upfront in the powerplay have created a lot of nightmares for the batters and he finished 761 international wickets across formats. Vaas turns 48 today and here are the top 5 spells of the left-arm seamer in international cricket.
8/19 vs Zimbabwe in an ODI in 2001
One of the best bowling spells in international cricket took place in 2001 when Vaas broke the Zimbabwe batting order into pieces in the first ODI in Colombo. He was almost unplayable and finished with figures of 8 wickets for just 19 runs in his 8-over spell. He bowled three maidens and accounted for the dismissal of the top nine batters excluding Dougie Marillier.
7/120 and 7/71 vs West Indies in 2001
This Test would have been widely remembered for the excellent batting from Brian Lara, who scored a double century in the first innings and followed it up with a century in the second innings. However, Vaas had a brilliant outing as well with the ball picking up seven wickets in each of the innings. His second-innings spell turned the game in favour of Sri Lanka who went on to win the Test by 10 wickets.
6/25 vs Bangladesh in ODI World Cup 2003
Not many bowlers have managed to take a hattrick in the first three balls of a spell and to do it in a World Cup game is even more extraordinary. That is something Vaas managed when he picked up the wickets of Hannar Sarkar, Al Sahariar, Mohammad Ashraful on successive deliveries and picked up Ehsanul Haque a ball later as well. His six-wicket haul made sure the Bangladesh side were all out for 124 on the board.
5/14 vs India in Coca Cola cup (ODI) final in 2000
India was on the receiving end from an excellent spell of bowling from Vaas who disintegrated the top order by picking up four early wickets. With a stiff target of 300 to chase down for India in the finals of the Coca Cola Trophy, all Vaas needed to do was hit the right lengths and he was immediately reaped rewards with 5 wickets for just 14 runs to his name.
6/29 vs South Africa in Test in 2004
Another match-winning spell from Vaas came in the home series against South Africa in the 2nd Test at Colombo and the former wasn’t much effective in the first innings. However, he came out all guns blazing in the second innings to make sure that the hosts bundled out the Proteas for just 179 to win the Test by 313 runs. Vaas picked up a six-for in no time and left the visitor with no answers.
