Kumar Dharmasena

 
Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena (born 24 April 1971 in Colombo, Sri Lanka), more commonly known as Kumar Dharmasena, is a Sri Lankan cricket umpire and former international player. He was a member of the Sri Lanka team that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off break bowler.

Playing career

Dharmasena started his cricketing career as a teenager at Nalanda College Colombo. His first foray into international cricket was in 1994 against South Africa.

His obscure action made him perfect for bowling in one-day matches, yet Dharmasena also proved a useful batsman, especially after he was investigated in 1998 by the ICC for overstretching his bowling action to illegal proportions. Having been cleared in July 2000, he played for the one-day team on several occasions since, but rarely played Test cricket.

Dharmasena was the 59th Sri Lankan cricketer to receive a Test cap (Sri Lanka v South Africa at Colombo Sinhalese Sports Club 1993).

Move to umpiring

Following his retirement from playing in November 2006, Dharmasena announced plans to become a competitive umpire, as he wished to remain "close to the game which I love so dearly". Prior to his retirement, he had already umpired several domestic matches in the Sara Trophy, the major first-class cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. He umpired his first international match in 2009, overseeing the one-day international between India and Sri Lanka at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla: he remains the youngest ever Sri Lankan to umpire any international. He umpired at the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and was appointed to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires later that year. Dharmasena was named the Umpire of the Year at the 2012 ICC Awards, for which he received the David Shepherd Trophy.

Kumar Dharmasena

Sri Lanka

 

 

Full name Handunnettige Deepthi Priyantha Kumar Dharmasena

Born April 24, 1971, Colombo

Current age 41 years 347 days

Major teams Sri Lanka, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Moratuwa Sports Club, Nondescripts Cricket Club

Playing role Allrounder

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm offbreak

Other Umpire

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	31	51	7	868	62*	19.72	2665	32.57	0	3	91	2	14	0
ODIs	141	87	33	1222	69*	22.62	1879	65.03	0	4	63	2	34	0
First-class	155	215	34	6568	157	36.28			9	37			78	0
List A	205	130	43	2243	94*	25.78			0	9			50	0
Twenty20	7	6	3	129	51*	43.00	107	120.56	0	1	11	4	1	0

 
Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	31	53	6939	2920	69	6/72	8/183	42.31	2.52	100.5	1	3	0
ODIs	141	134	7009	4998	138	4/37	4/37	36.21	4.27	50.7	1	0	0
First-class	155		25552	10286	495	7/30		20.77	2.41	51.6		30	5
List A	205		9693+	6667	233	5/14	5/14	28.61	4.11*	41.9*	5	3	0
Twenty20	7	6	122	108	4	2/15	2/15	27.00	5.31	30.5	0	0	0

 
Career statistics
 

Test debut	Sri Lanka v South Africa at Colombo (SSC), Sep 6-10, 1993 scorecard
Last Test	Sri Lanka v Australia at Galle, Mar 8-12, 2004 scorecard
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (RPS), Aug 24, 1994 scorecard
Last ODI	Sri Lanka v Australia at Colombo (RPS), Feb 25, 2004 scorecard
First-class debut	1988/89
Last First-class	Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club v Colts Cricket Club at Colombo (Moors), Mar 3-6, 2006 scorecard
List A debut	1988/89
Last List A	Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club v Nondescripts Cricket Club at Colombo (SSC), Dec 24, 2005 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club v Police Sports Club at Colombo (Colts), Aug 17, 2004 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club v Chilaw Marians Cricket Club at Moratuwa, Nov 5, 2005 scorecard