A young fast bowler with enormous potential, Suranga Lakmal is one of the many speedsters who Sri Lankan cricket have offered several opportunities over the past several seasons.

Spotted by talent scouts while he was still a student at the Debarawewa Central, Lakmal’s progress was tracked as he went on to play for Richmond College and the Tamil Union in domestic cricket. Although he impressed for both teams, his lack of stamina to bowl long spells was a cause of concern, a problem area which coaches worked on. His and their hard work finally bore fruit when with some fine performances for Sri Lanka A, the pacer made it to the team for the 2009 ODI series against India. Following a forgettable debut, he scalped the prized wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in his second game but failed to impress in the next games; and in early 2010 was sent back to domestic cricket to improve on his bowling.

At an enviable frame of over six feet and a high arm action, Lakmal is a deceptive bowler who can cause problems for batsman with both his pace and bounce. However his tendency to leak runs has many a time been his undoing, a problem area which he still needs to address.