Sajeewa Weerakoon

The consistency with which Sajeewa Weerakoon, the left-arm spinner from Burgher RC, performed during the 2005 season for Sri Lanka A forced the hands of the selectors to finally include him in the national team to India for the three Tests ahead of established spinner Rangana Herath. Weerakoon has been knocking on the door for bigger honours for quite some time and the way he bowled this year against strong sides like South Africa A and New Zealand A confirmed the quality of his bowling. 2005 has been an outstanding year for him when he picked up 60 wickets for Sri Lanka A in seven first-class matches. His performance was one bright spark for the selectors who had been frustrated by the poor standards set by the batsmen. The consistency with which he has performed is not only consigned to the A team, but in the past three seasons he has won the best bowler award twice by topping 50 wickets in the Premier league for his club.

The former Sri Lanka captain and present A team manager, Anura Tennekoon, drew a close resemblance of Weerakoon's bowling action to another former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Ajith de Silva. "Being quite tall Sajeewa is able to make use of his height to get that extra bit of bounce. He bowls a nagging line and length and uses the extra bounce."

Weerakoon picks the majority of his wickets by taking the ball away from the batsman towards the slips. He also bowls the arm ball for variation. So far he has proved his worth on pitches that have given him some kind of assistance. His real test comes when he bowls on flatter surfaces.
Saadi Thawfeeq (November 2005)