Dilhara Fernando

Dilhara Fernando
දිල්හාර ප්‍රනාන්දු

Personal information
Full name	Congenige Randhi Dilhara Fernando
Born	(1979-07-19) 19 July 1979 (age 42) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Sri Lanka (2000–2016)
Test debut (cap 82)	14 June 2000 v Pakistan
Last Test	8 July 2012 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 106)	9 January 2001 v South Africa
Last ODI	11 January 2012 v Pakistan
T20I debut (cap 3)	15 June 2006 v England
Last T20I	14 February 2016 v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997/98–present	Sinhalese Sports Club
2008	Worcestershire
2008–2011	Mumbai Indians
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC Matches 40 147 18 109 Runs scored 249 239 25 561 Batting average 8.30 9.19 5.00 7.58 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 Top score 39* 20 21 42 Balls bowled 6,181 6,507 378 14,670 Wickets 100 187 18 291 Bowling average 37.84 30.20 25.77 30.39 5 wickets in innings 3 1 0 6 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 5/42 6/27 3/19 6/29 Catches/stumpings 10/– 27/– 3/- 39/–
Source: CricInfo, 14 February 2016

Congenige Bongoli Randhi Labile Dilhara Fernando (Sinhala: දිල්හාර ප්‍රනාන්දු; born 19 July 1979) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer playing for Tests, ODIs and T20Is in the international arena. He is a right-handed pace bowler. He was a key member for 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup runner-up teams.

Fernando is best known for his rare technique when bowling the slower ball by splitting the fingers on the ball as it is released.

Domestic career[]

He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Sinhalese Sports Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament.^[1] In 2008 he appeared briefly in English county cricket, playing one County Championship and two Pro40 matches at the end of the season for Worcestershire.

International career[]

Fernando debuted for Sri Lanka in a Test Match against Pakistan at Colombo in June 2000. Six months later in a game at Durban he clocked 91.9 mph. He bowled at 93.40 mph vs Bangladesh at India. His international career however has been limited due to injury. In the period of a year he suffered two stress fracture of the back and as a result missed their home series against Australia in 2004.

In the 2010 tour of Australia, in the 3rd and final ODI at the Gabba, he clocked speeds reaching 150 kilometres per hour (93 mph).^{[citation needed]}

On 13 October 2007, in the 5th game of an ODI series with England, at Colombo, Fernando took career-best bowling figures of 6 for 27, as Sri Lanka thrashed England by 107 runs. This was the first time Fernando had taken more than 4 wickets in an ODI innings, and his feat placed him 5th in the list of best ODI bowling by a Sri Lankan.^[2]

During 2007 Cricket World Cup against England, he guided the team into winning margin by just 2 runs. England required just 2 runs in the last ball of the match, where Ravi Bopara in batting. Fernando delivers a good ball and Bopara was bowled by 2 runs short.^[3][4][5]

Fernando completed the series with 158 career ODI wickets. As of 17 June 2011, only Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken more ODI wickets for Sri Lanka (and all three have taken over 300 ODI wickets).^[6]

After 3 years, Fernando have picked for the T20I series against India. He played his first international games after 4 years, on 14 February 2016 against India. Due to few runs posted by Sri Lanka, he was not able to get wickets and Sri Lanka lost the match by 9 wickets as well.^[7]

Personal life[]

Dilhara was educated at De Mazenod College in Kandana, a suburb of Colombo.^[8] He started off his school career as a basketball player but was recruited to play cricket because of his build and height.^[9]

Dilhara is a Christian.^[10]

References[]

External links[]

• Dilhara Fernando at ESPNcricinfo