Ashantha de Mel

Sri Lanka

Full name Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel

Born May 9, 1959, Colombo

Current age 59 years 165 days

Major teams Sri Lanka

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast

Explore Ashantha de Mel's performance

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct
Tests	17	28	5	326	34	14.17			0	0	3	9
ODIs	57	41	9	466	36	14.56	595	78.31	0	0		13
First-class	42	57	9	918	100*	19.12			1	2		22
List A	70	51	13	577	39*	15.18			0	0		15

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w
Tests	17	27	3518	2180	59	6/109	7/201	36.94	3.71	59.6	2	3
ODIs	57	57	2735	2237	59	5/32	5/32	37.91	4.90	46.3	1	2
First-class	42		7056	4132	109	6/109		37.90	3.51	64.7		3
List A	70		3347	2569	69	5/32	5/32	37.23	4.60	48.5	2	1

Career statistics

Test debut	Sri Lanka v England at Colombo (PSS), Feb 17-21, 1982 scorecard
Last Test	India v Sri Lanka at Kanpur, Dec 17-22, 1986 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v England at Colombo (SSC), Feb 13, 1982 scorecard
Last ODI	England v Sri Lanka at Pune, Oct 30, 1987 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class span	1981/82 - 1986/87
List A span	1980/81 - 1987/88

Profile

He was a brisk right-arm bowler with the ability to gain genuine outswing, Ashantha de Mel was Sri Lanka's leading pace bowler following their elevation to full Test status. In Sri Lanka's inaugural test against England in 1981-82, de Mel took a highly creditable 4 for 70 and 1 for 33. In the following tour of Pakistan, he toiled willingly, taking 11 wickets. In the one-off Test against India in 1982-83, he became the first Sri Lankan fast bowler to take a five-wicket haul, grabbing 5 for 68 in the second innings. With the bat, de Mel was a handy performer, capable of valuable contributions in the lower order with his aggressive style. A serious knee injury brought his career to a premature end after the 1987 World Cup, but he went on to represent Sri Lanka at bridge, including an appearance at the Commonwealth Games. He also served on the interim committee of the Sri Lanka cricket board, and was a national selector and manager of the under-19 side.
Johann P Jayasekera (April 2004)

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