England cricketers give ‘Guard of Honour’ to the retiring Rangana Herath

Muttiah Muralitharan is regarded as the greatest spinner Sri Lanka have ever produced, having picked up 800 wickets in the longest format. The retired offie was used as the first-choice tweaker. However, there was one more bowler by the name of Rangana Herath, who was supremely talented and was one of the most prolific wickets in the domestic circuit.

He made his international debut back in 1999 against Australia in Galle, but couldn’t feature in the national side on a consistent basis mostly owing to Muralitharan’s presence. Nevertheless, after Murali bid adieu, Herath became a regular in the Lankan setup. He hasn’t looked back ever since and has already carved a reputation as one of the very best in the world.

He has thus far played 92 Tests in which he has picked up 430 wickets with best figures of 9/127. Moreover, he boasts of 20 four-wicket, 34 five-wicket, and nine ten-wicket hauls to his name. The veteran earlier announced that the opening Test against England at Galle International Stadium, which is currently underway, will mark his final international appearance.

Root shakes hand with Herath

In the first innings, he picked up the wicket of opposition captain Joe Root and finished with figures of 25-4-78-1. However, one of his more memorable moment came he strolled out to bat in Lanka’s first innings. The 40-year-old was given a ‘Guard of Honour’ by the English players and even the two on-field umpires- Chris Gaffaney and Marais Erasmus- stood there.

All of them clapped together to applaud Herath for being one of the indefatigable servants of cricket. In the meantime, Joe Root, the English captain also came forward to shake hands with the retiring cricketer. Herath played a quick-fire hand of 14 runs from 16 deliveries with the help of a couple of boundaries. He eventually remained not out as his team folded for 203.

Here is the video

A classy touch from England… 👏

Root shakes Herath’s hand to show the respect they and the cricket world have for the retiring spinner. 🤝

Watch here 👉 https://t.co/To86kNZfuP
Over-by-over blog 👉 https://t.co/XXnWXLw6QN pic.twitter.com/KxM2Prhjzi

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 7, 2018

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