Sri Lankan fast bowler, Dhammika Prasad has announced his retirement from international cricket. The 37-year old right arm speed merchant will be best remembered for his rocky bout of fast bowling that rocked England to defeat with a classy 5 for 50 in taking Sri Lanka to a memorable Test triumph over England at Headingly in 2014 culminating in a historically famous maiden series triumph in English shores.
It is unfortunate that a promising career of a bowler with the gift to bounce the ball could not translate that success in England to greater things having since been plagued by a shoulder injury from which ne never recovered playing his last test in October 2015. 25 Tests in October 2015, following which a serious shoulder injury impeded his career. Prasad eventually made a first-class comeback, following surgery, but could not quite break back into the national team.
Interestingly, Dhammika Prasad, hailing from Ragama, forged his cricket career as a top order batsman as a schoolboy at De Mazenod College, Kandana, but was compelled to switch to bowling by his college coach because they did not have a fast bowler. It was to set him on what was to propel him to the national team. On retirement Prasad had a tally of 75 test wickets averaging 35.97 and 32 ODI wickets averaging 30.50. His uncanny trade mark approach to the game of unrelenting to opponents was a strong point in his career. His mock facial gestures as he bounced out England at Headingly as batsmen came and went set Prasad as a great motivator. At domestic level he had a tally of 276 wickets for his club SSC.