Suranga Lakmal

Ranasinghe Arachchige Suranga Lakmal (රණසිංහ ආරච්චිගේ සුරංග ලක්මාල්; born 10 March 1987) is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who played in all formats of the game and is a former Test cricket captain.

He is a right-arm fast bowler and right-handed batsman.

He started his cricket life in Debarawewa National School, Tissamaharama.

He made his presence felt at domestic cricket since joining Tamil Union in 2007.

He made his List A debut for Tamil Union against the Colts Cricket Club on 17 November 2007.

He was first included in the national squad for the tour of Pakistan in 2008-2009 and was reported to have been injured in the attack on the Sri Lankan team by terrorists.

He made his first-class debut for Tamil Union against Nondescripts Cricket Club on 17 January 2008.

He made his T20 debut for Basnahira South against Wayamba on 23 April 2008.

He was one of the three players earmarked for a bright future by Chandika Hathurusinghe way back in 2008 during Sri Lanka A's cricket tour of South Africa in 2008.

He had to carry the so-called 'foreign objects' in his body during his playing career with the recommendation of the doctors in order to continue his cricketing career aftermath the 2009 Lahore attacks where he was severely injured.

Doctors advised Lakmal to take a break from cricket for at least two years in order to remove the splinters on his right arm and leg and he also underwent complicated surgery to remove the splinters.

He also had to deal with the circumstances of not being allowed to go pass the metal detectors during his overseas trips with the national side mainly due to the presence of the foreign objects in his body.

Moreover, he also had to explain to security personnel on why he is carrying a piece of metal particle embedded in his left thigh whenever he passes through a security metal detector at international airports.

He was a regular feature in the test team and made sporadic appearances in limited overs cricket.

He is only behind Chaminda Vaas for having taken the most wickets for Sri Lanka in test cricket with 168 and he is also the current fourth leading wicket taker for Sri Lanka in tests.

He was also a useful bat often chipping with useful contributions batting down the low order.

He insisted that his aim is to finish his career with 200 or 250 test wickets.

He largely played holding role in white ball limited overs matches although he had his moments leading the pace attack in crunch situations.

He was relatively popular among the teammates in the national side and was highly heralded as a team man.

He is known for his quick and accurate bowling action especially with the knack of generating big swing and lateral seam movement.

He has taken five wicket hauls in three of four SENA nations including Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Due to spin favoring Sri Lankan conditions, he was often pushed him into the sidelines.

He mostly played the holding role and bowled relatively lesser number of overs due to his inability to take wickets in spin friendly Sri Lankan pitches.

However, he ended up taking 130 of is 168 career test wickets in away conditions and was often rewarded for his ability to hold a line and length over long periods of time in overseas conditions.

He also felt the heat at times being under scrutiny for being an injury prone and due to his fitness issues.

He currently plays for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club.

He was an important member of 2014 ICC World Twenty20 winning team.

On 2 February 2022, Lakmal announced that he would retire from all forms of international cricket following Sri Lanka's tour of India.

Born in Hambantota district, Lakmal started his cricket career at his first school, Deberawewa Central College, in Hambantota.

He then attended Richmond College, Galle and played his senior school cricket at Richmond College.

His talent was first spotted by fast bowling coaches of Sri Lanka Cricket while he was still schooling at Debarewewa Central.

His progress was also closely monitored by the coaches when he transferred to the Richmond College.

He initially lacked the stamina to bowl long spells due to lack of nutrition despite his natural talent and was also believed to have fallen ill during one of the occasions when he delivered a long spell at net session.

He was looked after well and was groomed when he was inducted into the cricket academy especially knowing the fact that he hailed from an outstation area.

His height and ability to get bounce and ability to extract swing at a tender age had caught the attention from cricketing circles.

His wrist position and action were deemed as identical with the likes of Australian veteran Glenn McGrath.

His father was a farmer and he moved to Colombo from his native Hambantota to pursue his interest in cricket.

He received imminent attention and support to pursue his career in cricket from Dinal Philips who then served as the President's Counsel for a considerable period of time and whom Lakmal later would later acknowledge as his father figure.

In March 2018, he was named the captain of Galle's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.

The following month, he was also named in Galle's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.