In cricket, a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings is known as a five-wicket haul or fifer, and is regarded as a notable achievement. and , only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. Chaminda Vaas, a former Sri Lankan cricketer and current fast bowling coach of the Sri Lankan team, has a total of 16 five-wicket hauls to his name, with twelve in Tests and four in One Day Internationals (ODIs). As a left-arm fast-medium bowler, he was accurate and particularly skilled in bowling both swing and reverse swing. Vaas often played a supporting role to Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's off spinner and leading wicket taker. In the period from 1995 to their retirement from international cricket, the two bowlers accumulated 1,155 Test wickets and paved the way for many of Sri Lanka's victories.
Having made his Test debut in August 1994 against Pakistan, Vaas took his first five-wicket haul seven months later in March 1995 against New Zealand. He repeated the feat in New Zealand's second innings, taking a total of 10 wickets and led Sri Lanka to their first ever overseas Test win. His career-best bowling is the seven wickets he took against the West Indies for 71 runs in November 2001. He had taken another seven wickets in the first innings of the same match, bringing the total to 14 and making it the highest number of wickets he has taken in a single match. It is also the second-best bowling performance by a Sri Lankan bowler after Muralitharan's 16 wickets for 220 runs in 1998. Vaas is ranked third among Sri Lankan bowlers by the number of Test five-wicket hauls, behind spinners Muralitharan and Rangana Herath.
Vaas made his ODI debut in February 1994 against India, but was unable to get a five-wicket haul for several years. His first was in October 2000 against the same team, when he took five wickets for 14 runs as he and Muralitharan led the Sri Lankans to the biggest ODI victory at the time. In December 2001, Vaas recorded the best bowling figures in ODI history, taking eight wickets for 19 runs against Zimbabwe. This is also the only occasion where a bowler managed to take eight wickets in an ODI innings. In addition, the six wickets he took for 25 runs against Bangladesh during the 2003 Cricket World Cup are the best figures recorded by a Sri Lankan bowler in a World Cup match.
Vaas played his last ODI in August 2008 and his last Test match in July 2009. He also played six Twenty20 International matches but did not manage to get a five-wicket haul in the format. His total of 16 five-wicket hauls is the second highest for a Sri Lankan bowler, after Muralitharan's 77. During his international career, Vaas took 355 Test wickets and 400 ODI wickets, making him the most successful fast bowler in Sri Lankan cricket history.
Key
+Key Symbol Meaning DateDay the Test started or ODI held InnInnings in which five-wicket haul was taken OversNumber of overs bowled RunsNumber of runs conceded WktsNumber of wickets taken EconRuns conceded per over BatsmenBatsmen whose wickets were taken ResultResult for the Sri Lanka team One of two five-wicket hauls by Vaas in a match 10 or more wickets taken in the match Vaas was selected as man of the match
Tests + Five-wicket hauls in Test cricketNo. Date Ground Against Inn Overs Runs Wkts EconBatsmen Result 1 McLean Park, Napier Darrin Murray Stephen Fleming Shane Thomson Gavin Larsen Kerry Walmsley Won 2 McLean Park, Napier Darrin Murray Ken Rutherford Dion Nash Danny Morrison Kerry Walmsley Won 3 Carisbrook, Dunedin Bryan Young Darrin Murray Mark Greatbatch Adam Parore Chris Pringle Kerry Walmsley Drawn 4 Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar Aamer Sohail Rameez Raja Inzamam-ul-Haq Shoaib Mohammad Moin Khan Lost 5 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Mike Atherton Michael Vaughan Craig White Ashley Giles Andy Caddick Darren Gough Lost 6 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Daren Ganga Chris Gayle Brian Lara Carl Hooper Marlon Samuels Mervyn Dillon Pedro Collins Won 7 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Daren Ganga Chris Gayle Ramnaresh Sarwan Mervyn Dillon Dinanath Ramnarine Pedro Collins Marlon Black Won 8 Marrara Oval, Darwin Matthew Hayden Matthew Elliott Simon Katich Jason Gillespie Glenn McGrath Lost 9 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Martin van Jaarsveld Jacques Kallis Jacques Rudolph Mark Boucher Nicky Boje Makhaya Ntini Won 10 Basin Reserve, Wellington Craig Cumming James Marshall Hamish Marshall Nathan Astle Stephen Fleming Brendon McCullum Lost 11 Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy Xavier Marshall Runako Morton Shivnarine Chanderpaul Sylvester Joseph Denesh Ramdin Daren Powell Won 12 Providence Stadium, Guyana Devon Smith Marlon Samuels Shivnarine Chanderpaul Jerome Taylor Daren Powell Won
One Day Internationals + Five-wicket hauls in ODI cricketNo. Date Ground Against Inn Overs Runs Wkts EconBatsmen Result 1 Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah Sourav Ganguly Sachin Tendulkar Yuvraj Singh Vinod Kambli Zaheer Khan Won 2 Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo Dion Ebrahim Grant Flower Stuart Carlisle Andy Flower Craig Wishart Tatenda Taibu Heath Streak Mluleki Nkala Won 3 City Oval, Pietermaritzburg Hannan Sarkar Al Sahariar Mohammad Ashraful Ehsanul Haque Sanwar Hossain Mashrafe Mortaza Won 4 Westpac Stadium, Wellington Jamie How Stephen Fleming Scott Styris Chris Cairns Brendon McCullum Lost
Notes
References General
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External links Player profile of Vaas at CricketArchive