Wisden overview
Vaas has served Sri Lanka extremely well with intelligent left-arm new-ball bowling. He is easily the most penetrative and successful paceman they have had, and their only realistic match-winning bowler after Murali. He rarely finds home pitches to his liking but seams and swings the ball with skill, his trademark ball being the late indipper. Vaas outbowled New Zealand's seamers in green conditions at Napier to giveSri Lanka their first win in an overseas Test, in 1994-95, and after a solid few years, he made a quantum leap in 2001-02, taking 26 wickets in the 3-0 rout of West Indies and joining Imran Khan as the only fast bowlers ever to have taken 14 wickets in a match in the subcontinent. Within a week he had added the first eight-for ever taken in a one-day international - 8 for 19 against Zimbabwe. Strongly built, he is an effective lower-order hitter. He is believed to have the longest forename (49 characters) and one of the shortest surnames (four characters) of any Test cricketer. Simon Wilde

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