Champion Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath is set to retire after the first Test against England next month, according to reports.
The Island is reporting Herath has made a request to play one last Test at Galle International Stadium, the venue of the first of three Tests against England, which is begins November 6.
“Herath had made a request to retire after the first Test in Galle. It is entirely up to him and we will respect his decision,” a Sri Lanka Cricket official reportedly told The Island.
Cricket.com.au has reached out to Sri Lanka Cricket for comment but is yet to receive a response.
Herath, 40, has played 92 Test matches and captured 430 wickets at 27.95, along with 34 five-wicket hauls and has taken 10 wickets or more in a Test on nine occasions.
The left-arm orthodox spinner made his debut against Australia in Galle in 1999 and needs just one more wicket to become the second player, behind legendary spinner Muthiah Muralidaran, to take 100 wickets at the scenic ground.
The retirement of Herath – the most prolific left-arm bowler in Test history – would leave a chasm of experience and wickets in the Sri Lanka Test team, but the veteran foreshadowed exiting the game in July ahead of the two-Test series against South Africa on home soil.
“Maybe my final series will be the England series later in the year,” he told BBC Sinhala. “Following this South Africa (Test) series, there is another three months until the England series.
“For now, this is what I’ve planned for. There comes a time for every cricketer, when they have to stop playing. I think that time has come for me.”
Persistent knee injuries have hampered Herath at the back end of his career, to the point where he hasn’t completed a three-Test series since January 2017 against the Proteas.
Having spent a majority of his early career behind Muralidaran, Herath returned to the Test team full-time in 2009 before taking 10 wickets in two Tests against Pakistan in 2009 as a 31-year-old.
Once back in the side he captured a further 394 wickets and has inspired Sri Lanka to myriad wins, including 28 wickets in three Tests against Australia in 2016.
Source – CA Sam Ferris
