Chanaka Welegedara

Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara, commonly as Chanaka Welegedara,[1] (Sinhala: චානක වෙලගෙදර; born 20 March 1981), is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer who played all formats of the game.

Chanaka amarasuuriya
චානක වෙලගෙදර
Personal information
Full name
Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedara
Born (1981-03-20) 20 March 1981
Matale, Sri Lanka
NicknameWele
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingLeft arm fast-medium
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 107)18 December 2007 v England
Last Test14 August 2014 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 138)15 December 2009 v India
Last ODI22 June 2010 v India
T20I debut (cap 34)30 April 2010 v New Zealand
Last T20I9 May 2010 v Australia
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2007/08presentMoors Sports Club
2012/presentWayamba
2016-presentTamil Union
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I LA
Matches 21 10 2 86
Runs scored 218 4 2 109
Batting average 9.08 4.00 5.45
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Top score 48 2* 2* 18*
Balls bowled 3,799 457 36 3,706
Wickets 55 15 1 121
Bowling average 41.32 28.86 61.00 24.90
5 wickets in innings 2 1 0 3
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 5/52 5/66 1/21 5/16
Catches/stumpings 5/ 2/ 0/ 20/
Source: Cricinfo, 13 February 2015

Early career

An alumnus of St. Thomas' College, Matale and Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala, he proved the future prospects of entering national side with his bowling performances in school level. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s. He has made appearances for Moors Sports Club and North Central Province's cricket club, and was called up for the Sri Lanka A squad for the match against Bangladesh during Sri Lanka's 2007 tour.

Legacy

On 6 April 2015, Welagedera recorded the best economical spell of Twenty20 cricket history against Sinhalese Sports Club. His spell finished with 4 overs, 2 maidens, four wickets for just two runs (4-2-2-4), breaking the 4-3-2-2 spell of South African Chris Morris.[2] The record was later broken by Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan with the figures of 4-3-1-2.

Early career

An alumnus of St. Thomas' College, Matale, he proved the future prospects of entering national side with his bowling performances in school level. A left-arm fast bowler by trade, he has a healthy bowling average in both first-class and List A cricket, in the mid-to-low 20s. He has made appearances for Moors Sports Club and North Central Province's cricket club, and was called up for the Sri Lanka A squad for the match against Bangladesh during Sri Lanka's 2007 tour. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Moors Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament.[3]

Legacy

On 6 April 2015, Welagedera recorded the best economical spell of Twenty20 cricket history against Sinhalese Sports Club. His spell finished with 4 overs, 2 maidens, four wickets for just two runs (4-2-2-4), breaking the 4-3-2-2 spell of South African Chris Morris.[4] The record was later broken by Pakistani pacer Mohammad Irfan with 4-3-1-2 figures.

International career

On 18 December 2007, he made his Test match debut in the third test against England at Galle. Welagedara was selected in Sri Lanka's test squad for their 2008 tour of the West Indies, but had to wait until November 2009 for his second Test appearance, which came against India, and he would go on to play all three Tests in the series. His first Test wicket was England's Paul Collingwood.

He was included in Sri Lanka's One Day International squad to play against India in December 2009, making his debut on 15 December in Rajkot, and in a match where 825 runs were scored in 100 overs, he returned figures of 2/63 from his ten overs, claiming the wickets of Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli. He also claimed a five wicket haul against India.

He was the first Test cricketer to boast six initials to his name. He played as constant player in the Sri Lankan Playing XI for 6 years after Lasith Malinga's resignation from the longer format.[5]

Post Test Cricket

Welegedara moved to Australia in 2015 and started playing for a local Victorian Cricket team Westmeadows, for the 2015/16 Australian Cricket season. In his first season, he finished with figures of 146 overs, 27 maidens, 34 wickets, at an average of 13.38. Moving into the next season he has been made coach of Westmeadows.

See also

References

  1. His family name may also be spelt Welagedara.
  2. "Sri Lankan equals T20 world record". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  3. "1st Round, Colombo, Aug 17 2004, Twenty-20 Tournament". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  4. "Sri Lankan equals T20 world record". cricket.com.au. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  5. Frindall, Bill (2009). Ask Bearders. BBC Books. p. 203. ISBN 978-1-84607-880-4.
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