Under the SKanner: Rangana Herath

An old warhorse amidst a bunch of young, inexperienced Sri Lankan cricketers, Rangana Herath quietly made a name for himself while his compatriot and legend Muttiah Muralitharan was around. He climbed the ladder of success further post Muralitharan’s retirement from Tests in 2010.

He made his international debut against Australia as far back as 1999 but Herath’s orthodox left arm spin took its fair share of time to gain recognition at the highest stage.

A spell of four years in the wilderness following his first three Tests brought him back as a stronger companion of Muralitharan in 2004, but under a more established cohort, Herath’s sporadically sincere performances saw him return to domestic cricket in 2005.

But in 2008, after he was recalled to the national side for the second time, the spinner never looked back. He has since averaged a healthy 27.53 with the ball in comparison to a weaker 34.40 in twelve Tests until then.

This March, against Bangladesh, Herath achieved the feat of being the most successful left-arm spinner in the history of the game when he claimed 6/59 and eclipsed his former New Zealand counterpart Daniel Vettori.

Here we trace Herath’s journey by measuring his strengths and weaknesses.

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Strengths

Herath can bowl long spells as well as be economical

#1 Can bowl long spells and produce results

Despite surging late as a cricketer, Herath’s striking abilities to bowl long, indefatigable spells especially in the heat of the dry sub-continent weather conditions, remains commendable. With increasing age, Herath has only risen in panache rather than refrain from delivering when mattered the most.

Aged 39, his invincible fitness and irrepressible form have acted as a menace for opposition batsmen who often under-rated him in his early days as a spinner.

Herath remains unperturbed with a short, wicketless spell and uses his experience to great effect even on flat surfaces offering little turn and bounce for slow bowlers.

A veteran of 82 Tests and 385 wickets, Herath’s skills and encouragement for his younger teammates can go a long way in building a confident Sri Lanka unit.

#2 Accurate, consistent and economical

With time and experience, Herath has learned the enviable task of constantly applying pressure from one end and keeping it tight with accurate bowling to right and left-handers alike. Maintaining a steady line and length consistently has defined Herath since his comeback in 2008, having fashioned many memorable wins for his country.

His most fascinating performance since then has been a career-best 9/127 against Pakistan at the SSC in Colombo in 2014. He twice accounted for greats Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq in that match, claiming 5/57 in the second innings to finish with his best match haul in a Test.

Another of Herath’s magnificent outings include nine wickets against South Africa at Durban in 2010, with a 5/79 in the second innings leading Sri Lanka to a maiden Test victory on South African soil.

#3 Variations, like most modern spinners

Like almost all modern day spinners, Herath too possesses a variation other than the contemporary and orthodox off-spinner. Of late, besides tricking quality batsmen with his spot-on and flawless deliveries, Herath also deals in a recently developed stock ball which rapidly darts into the right-hander.

While also providing the ball flight as well as using the “mystery” ball judiciously, Herath has been economical as well as wicket-taking for a long while. Without over-utilising the quick ball against the right-hander, Herath’s consistency is yet to be matched by any other spinner used by Sri Lanka post-Muralitharan’s retirement.

Weaknesses

#1 Ineffective outside Asia

In 22 Tests outside Asia, the short yet forceful Herath has merely scalped 57 victims at an unimpressive average of 43.53. He has remained ineffective as the quicker and the seam-friendly surfaces of Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand and West Indies have always been renowned for assisting pace.

Contrastingly, his average dips overwhelmingly to 25.48 while foxing the opposition in the more friendly conditions which offer a lot of turn and bounce.

With Sri Lanka lacking a consistent spinner in the post-Muralitharan era, Herath’s inefficiency outside Asia on tracks not the best for spin bowlers has hurt his nation.

#2 Not a fine turner of the ball

One major difference between the great Muralitharan and the skilful Herath is the turn that the two could generate off the surface. While Muralitharan was a vicious turner of the ball with a highly productive action, allowing the ball a good grip and spin, Herath fails to generate a lot of turn off the pitch.

He has a smooth action yet it does not prove to be as threatening as his former teammate.

While like most left-armers Herath prefers an around the wicket line to right-handed batsmen, he has not matched the ability of Muralitharan which would trouble the best of batsmen around the world.