Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel (born 9 May 1959) is a former Sri Lankan Test and ODI

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and selector for the national team. He bowled Sri Lanka's first ball in a Test match. He was one of few

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

bowlers in the 1980s above medium

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, and he was also said to have the ability to get the ball to swing

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. In November 2018, he was named as the chairman of

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national ...

's National Selection Panel. He previously served in the role in 2012.

International career

He only played one Test match outside the

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, which may explain why his

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average is so high, as conditions there are generally not thought suitable for swing bowlers. He often made small contributions with the bat, and only made

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s three times. He was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo, up to ordinary level and then moved to

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

1983 cricket World Cup

His finest moment as a bowler arguably came at the 1983 World Cup in England, where he used the helpful conditions to register his two only ODI five-wicket-hauls. First, at

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against

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, he took five for 39, but got little help from his teammates and couldn't quite carry the team to the target, being last out as Sri Lanka needed 12 more to win off 10 balls. Two days later, however, they moved to The County Ground, Derby, and de Mel once again took five wickets – this time for only 32 runs, as

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crumbled to 181 and Sri Lanka won by three wickets, their only win in the tournament. de Mel returned Sri Lanka's best bowling figures in every match. He was the tournament's second highest wicket taker with 17 wickets, one behind India's

Roger Binny Roger Michael Humphrey Binny (born 19 July 1955) is a former Indian cricketer who is the 36th and incumbent president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He was the president of Karnataka State Cricket Association from 2019 t ...

. Many years later, it was discovered that one of the wickets credited to

Rumesh Ratnayake Rumesh Joseph Ratnayake (born 2 January 1964), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played in 23 Test matches and 70 One Day Internationals from 1982 to 1993. He was an interim head coach of Sri Lanka national cricket team in 2017. Ratnayake wa ...

in Sri Lanka's first round match against

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was actually taken by de Mel, but the scorecards still don't reflect that.

1985 against India

After this, he usually put in solid performances, but the closest he came to the 1983 heroics was in a 1985 Test with

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The visitors had chosen to bat, but de Mel ran through the middle order, getting players like

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is an Indian cricket commentator, former professional cricketer and head coach of the India national cricket team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 1981 and 199 ...

Kapil Dev Kapildev Ramlal Nikhanj (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, əpil deːʋborn 6 January 1959) is an Indian former cricket team captain. He is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of cricket, he was a Fast bowling, ...

and

Dilip Vengsarkar Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar (born 6 April 1956) is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was considered to have a very good drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Indian batting li ...

out, and finishing with five for 64. Sri Lanka led by 129 runs on first innings, but de Mel failed to take a wicket in the second innings as India drew the match.

After cricket

His career was ended in 1987 due to a knee injury, but he continued within the Sri Lankan cricket system, and in May 2004 he was appointed head of selectors in Sri Lanka. That lasted for one year, whereupon he was sacked, only one month after the sports minister

Jeewan Kumaranatunga Jeewan Kumaranatunga (born 7 November 1958: ), is an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and television, who later became a politician, a former member of the parliament and a former cabinet minister. He is a close relative of former President Cha ...

had announced that he would be retained for another year. de Mel has also played

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, appearing in the

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playing this sport. De Mel went on to become the chairman of the Selection Committee,

(SLC) which was responsible for selecting players for matches and tours. He was also the chairman of the state owned

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as CEYPETCO (CPC), is a Sri Lankan oil and gas company. Established in 1962 and wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, it is the largest oil company in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1961 by national ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mel, Ashantha de 1959 births Living people Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of Isipathana College Cricketers from Colombo