Name game: A unique record in the making

A strange record in the making for sure, but there’s more coming your way with Asanka Welegedera. The rookie left-arm pacer is being billed as the next Chaminda Vaas for his ability to bring the ball back in at a brisk pace and for his seemingly smooth action. But there’s one other reason than pure cricketing dialects.

Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanka Welegedera is the cricketer with the longest initials in world cricket and has one more than existing record holder Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas. However, the senior left-arm seamer will still hold the record for being the longest name in international cricket with 52 alphabets while his understudy Welegedera stands with 49. And together the two left-armers take up 13 of the 59 names.

Moving further from the names, a couple of Sri Lankan players are still having problems with their spellings too. Skipper Mahela Jayawardene is the first to object and has also written to the ICC to get the spellings right. Mahela’s last name is Jayawardena. Also there’s still a raging debate on Murali, whether he’s Muralidharan or Muralitharan. While most of the cricketing world, including the ICC, prefers to use the latter, the bowler was heard requesting to be called Muralidharan.

And you thought only our Sreesanth has been having problems in asking people to get his name correct? Still dazed by the tongue-twisting never ending names? Thankfully, the Sri Lankan cricketers don’t believe in Feng Shui and dabble with spellings like most of our Indian cricketers and film stars. However, there’s one little thing to wonder. How do the Sri Lankan cricketers get their full names on the passports?

Regardless of it all, this team has played some beautiful cricket and set up the competition nicely for the second stage of this tri-series. So like the Aussies here say, “what’s in a name anyways maiite?”

... contd.