Pulasthi Gunaratne

Wisden overview

A handful with bat and ball, and for tongue-tied commentators, Pulasthi Gunaratne was already quite a veteran of Sri Lankan cricket by the time he made his one-day debut at the age of 28 against Bangladesh in August 2002, since he first played for Bloomfield way back in 1993. A slippery right-arm seamer, he demonstrated his knowhow by taking two wickets in consecutive deliveries, including a perfect first-ball yorker to uproot Tushar Imran's middle stump. He had been on the fringe of the senior side for quite some time, and had been an outside bet for the 2002 England tour after impressing in an unofficial Test series against Kenya. His batting is more effective than elegant, but two first-class fifties hint at a man who knows which end of the willow is which. (Andrew Miller)