For a small man RANGANA HERATH is unique. His full name is a tongue-twister for many with the first one a repeat of his surname: Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath. An orthodox left-arm spinner, he is the main spinning hope Sri Lanka have after the wily Muttiah Muralitharan retired as the Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker.

Herath’s strengths are his accuracy and his ability to bowl long spells, but to that he has added a mystery ball that that is quicker and darts back into the right-hander like a cobra.

Sri Lanka’s lacklustre start at 2015 World Cup is compounded by Herath’s lack of success in the opening two matches. But the tiny fellow just needs a decent spell to get into the groove.

His name sounds South African but KYLE COETZER is very much a Scottish since he was born in Aberdeen. Coetzer became part of Scotland’s cricket set-up in 1999 from the Under-15 level before beginning a solid county career with Durham and Northamptonshire.

He established himself as a vital cog in the top order and was Scotland’s leading run-getter at the 2009 World Twenty20, with 75 runs at 37.50 against New Zealand and South Africa. In 2013 he registered his maiden ODI century, 133, against Afghanistan — Scotland’s opponents at the University Oval in Dunedin today.

Coetzer was handed Scotland captaincy in 2013 but he lost the job to Preston Mommsen, who stood in when Coetzer was injured during Scotland’s successful qualifying campaign for the 2015 World Cup.

Published in Dawn February 26th , 2015

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