Ashantha de Mel

Ashantha de Mel
අශාන්ත ද මෙල්
Personal information
Full name Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel
Born (1959-05-09) 9 May 1959
Colombo
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 1) 17 February 1982 v England
Last Test 17 December 1986 v India
ODI debut (cap 20) 13 February 1982 v England
Last ODI 30 October 1987 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 17 57 42 70
Runs scored 326 466 918 577
Batting average 14.17 14.56 19.12 15.18
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 1/2 0/0
Top score 34 36 100* 39*
Balls bowled 3,518 2,735 7,056 3,347
Wickets 59 59 109 69
Bowling average 36.94 37.91 37.90 37.23
5 wickets in innings 3 2 3 2
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 6/109 5/32 6/109 5/32
Catches/stumpings 9/– 13/– 22/– 15/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 31 July 2015

Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel (born 9 May 1959 in Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan Test and ODI cricketer and selector for the national team. He bowled Sri Lanka's first ball in a Test match.[1]

He was one of few Sri Lanka bowlers in the 1980s who could get the ball to anything above medium pace, and he was also said to have the ability to get the ball to swing out.

International career

He only played one Test match outside the Indian subcontinent, which may explain why his Test average is so high, as conditions there are generally not thought suitable for swing bowlers. He often made small contributions with the bat, and only made ducks three times.

He was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo up to ordinary level and then moved to Royal College Colombo.

1983 cricket World Cup

His finest moment as a bowler arguably came at the 1983 World Cup in England, where he used the helpful conditions to register his two only ODI five-wicket-hauls. First, at Headingley against Pakistan, he took five for 39, but got little help from his team-mates and couldn't quite carry the team to the target, being last out as Sri Lanka needed 12 more to win off 10 balls. Two days later, however, they moved to The County Ground, Derby, and de Mel once again took five wickets - this time for only 32 runs, as New Zealand crumbled to 181 and Sri Lanka won by three wickets, their only win in the tournament. De Mel returned Sri Lanka's best bowling figures in every match. He was the tournament's second highest wicket taker with 17 wickets, one behind India's Roger Binny. Many years later, it was discovered that one of the wickets credited to Rumesh Ratnayake in Sri Lanka's first round match against England was actually taken by De Mel, but the scorecards still don't reflect that.

1985 against India

After this, he usually put in solid performances, but the closest he came to the 1983 heroics was in a 1985 Test with India. The visitors had chosen to bat, but de Mel ran through the middle order, getting players like Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar out, and finishing with five for 64. Sri Lanka led by 129 runs on first innings, but de Mel failed to take a wicket in the second innings as India drew the match.

After cricket

His career was ended in 1987 due to a knee injury, but he continued within the Sri Lankan cricket system, and in May 2004 he was appointed head of selectors in Sri Lanka. That lasted for one year, whereupon he was sacked, only one month after the sports minister Jeewan Kumaranatunga had announced that he would be retained for another year. De Mel has also played bridge, appearing in the Commonwealth Games playing this sport.

De Mel went on to become the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) which was responsible for selecting players for matches and tours. He was also the Chairman of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

International record

Test 5 Wicket hauls

#Figures Match Opponent Venue City Country Year
1 5/68 5  India MA Chidambaram Stadium Chennai India 1982
2 5/64 8  India Sinhalese Sports Club Ground Colombo Sri Lanka 1985
3 6/109 15  Pakistan Karachi National Stadium Karachi Pakistan 1985

ODI 5 Wicket hauls

#Figures Match Opponent Venue City Country Year
1 5/39 19  Pakistan Headingley Cricket Ground Leeds England 1983
2 5/32 20  New Zealand Derby County Ground Derby England 1983

International awards

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

No Opponent Venue Date Match Performance Result
1 New Zealand County Ground, Derby 18 June 1983 12-4-32-5 ; DNB  Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Packer's revolution". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "1983 Prudential World Cup - 18th Match - New Zealand v Sri Lanka - Derby".
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