Overview:
Pushpakumara has now secured his place among Sri Lanka's cricketing elite, joining Muttiah Muralidaran (1,374 wickets), Rangana Herath (1,080), and Dinuka Hettiarachchi (1,001).
On Wednesday, Malinda Pushpakumara etched his name in Sri Lankan cricket history by becoming the fourth player from the country to take 1,000 first-class wickets. He reached the milestone during Moors Sports Club’s match against Badureliya Sports Club at the Colts Cricket Club Ground.
Malinda Pushpakumara entered the game just two wickets away from 1,000. Badureliya’s skipper, Geeth Kumara, opted to bat after winning the toss, scoring a solid 185 to help his team reach 486. Moors’ bowling was spearheaded by Chanuka Dilshan, who took 5 wickets for 81 runs.
Moors finished the second day at 159 for 4. Pushpakumara reached 999 wickets on the day by dismissing wicketkeeper Sohan de Livera. He achieved his 1,000th first-class wicket on the third morning by bowling out Pasindu Sooriyabandara, joining an elite list of 218 bowlers in world cricket to achieve the feat.
Pushpakumara has now secured his place among Sri Lanka’s cricketing elite, joining Muttiah Muralidaran (1,374 wickets), Rangana Herath (1,080), and Dinuka Hettiarachchi (1,001), a testament to his sustained excellence on the domestic circuit.
Pushpakumara’s remarkable achievement of 1,000 wickets at a strike rate of 38.3 puts him in the company of some of the game’s most prolific bowlers. His strike rate places him alongside cricketing greats like William Lillywhite, James Dean, William Hillyer, Alfred Mynn, and John Wisden, who were dominant figures during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Pushpakumara has claimed 1,000 wickets at an average of 20.06, with 86 five-wicket hauls and 28 ten-wicket match performances, placing him alongside legendary bowlers Bill Lockwood, Tom Richardson, and George Lohmann. He is the only modern-day bowler in a list predominantly filled with names from the pre-World War I period.
A notable aspect of Pushpakumara’s career is that he has never played first-class cricket in England. He joins Hettiarachchi as the only two bowlers to reach 1,000 wickets without having participated in the English county system.
Among the highlights of Pushpakumara’s career is one of the best spells bowled on Sri Lankan soil. During the 2018-19 season, he took remarkable figures of 10 for 37, becoming only the second bowler, after Pramodya Wickramasinghe, to claim all ten wickets in a first-class innings in Sri Lanka.