Upul Tharanga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upul Tharanga
Personal information
Full name	Warushavithana Upul Tharanga
Born	2 February 1985 (1985-02-02) (age 23)
	Balapitiya, Sri Lanka
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	–
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut	18 December 2005: v India
Last Test	18 December 2007: v England
ODI debut	2 August 2005: v West Indies
Last ODI	28 November 2008:v Zimbabwe
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2003–08	Nondescripts Cricket Club
2007–08	Ruhuna
2000–01	Singha Sports Club
Career statistics
	Tests	ODIs	FC	LA
Matches	15	73	61	112
Runs scored	713	2,127	3,148	3,285
Batting average	28.52	31.27	30.86	31.89
100s/50s	1/3	6/9	5/16	7/17
Top score	165	120	169	173*
Balls bowled	–	–	18	–
Wickets	–	–	0	–
Bowling average	–	–	–	–
5 wickets in innings	–	–	0	–
10 wickets in match	–	–	0	–
Best bowling	–	–	0/4	–
Catches/stumpings	11/–	12/–	53/1	24/1
Source: CricketArchive, 29 November 2008

Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985 in Balapitiya, commonly known as Upul Tharanga) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman and wicketkeeper.

Tharanga's Sri Lankan call-up in July 2005 made for a mixed 2005, after his family home was washed away by the Asian tsunami. His equipment, which was also washed away, was replaced by Kumar Sangakkara.

Having played for Nondescripts since the age of 15, he played for Sri Lanka's under-15, under-17 and under-19 squads. He had a successful under-19 World Cup in 2004 with successful innings of 117 and 61 in successive games. He was sent by the Sri Lankan cricketing board to play league cricket for Loughton Cricket Club in Essex.

Tharanga graduated to the "A" team and in July was selected for the full squad.

On the 2006 tour of England he really began to develop, particularly in the one-day game, scoring over 300 runs in Sri Lanka's 5-0 whitewash of the hosts. In addition, Tharanga is also well-known for taking part in a record-breaking first wicket partnership with Sanath Jayasuriya in the final match of this series. He finished off with 109 off 102 balls, and played a pivotal role in completing the whitewash against England.

Tharanga lost his form in the 2007 World Cup scoring only one half century (against New Zealand) he then continued his poor run of form in the home series against England in 2007 where he failed to contribute and often fell before the 10th over often resulting in a middle-order collapse. Subsequently he lost his ODI place to Malinda Warnapura and his test place to Michael Vandort but he remains within the squad.

He has also come in for special praise from Jayasuriya, one of the greats of cricket, saying that he could be the next captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team.

One Day International Centuries

The following table illustrates a summary of ODI centuries scored by Upul Tharanga

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

One Day International Centuries of Upul Tharanga
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	105	5	Bangladesh	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R Premadasa Stadium	2005
[2]	103	12	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	Jade Stadium	2006
[3]	120	23	England	London, England	Lord's	2006
[4]	109	27	England	Leeds, England	Headingley	2006
[5]	105	31	Bangladesh	Mohali, Chandigarh, India	Punjab C.A. Stadium	2006
[6]	110	32	Zimbabwe	Motera, Ahmedabad, India	Sardar Patel Stadium	2006