Chaminda Vaas, right, is greeted by Sri Lankan team baggage boy Nimal, during a practice session ahead of the third Test Match against Pakistan at the SSC grounds on Sunday. Vaas announced he will be retiring from Test cricket after the final Test . (Pic by Gurinder Osan)

After two weeks of confusion and controversy, ace paceman Chaminda Vaas finally announced his retirement from Test cricket during a media briefing at the Singhalese Sports Club grounds yesterday. Today’s third and final Test against Pakistan will be the 35-year-old veteran’s last Test Match, but he said he will continue to represent the country in ODIs and Twenty-20s. "The third Test against Pakistan will be my last Test Match. It was a very difficult decision, but after speaking to my family I decided to move on. However, I will continue to play ODI and T-20 cricket," the left arm seamer said yesterday.

He added that he will hold a media briefing at the conclusion of the third Test as Sri Lanka are eyeing a whitewash against Pakistan having already bagged the series 2-0.

Vaas was overlooked for the T-20 World Cup in England, but was expected to be recalled for the first Test against Pakistan in Galle. However, he was not named in the 16 member squad announced ahead of the series opener which prompted speculations about his future and Chairman of Selectors Ashantha de Mel surprised many when he went on record saying that the veteran intended to retire from Test cricket. However, Vaas denied making a statement like that to the Chief Selector.

The selectors seemed to have reached a compromise with the former vice-captain when they picked him for the final Test with the series already won so that the veteran could retire on a high note.

The dead rubber at SSC, however, will provide an opportunity for Sri Lankan cricket lovers to reflect on the career of country’s most successful fast bowler with over 350 wickets to his name. No other Sri Lankan fast bowler has taken 100 wickets in Tests.

Vaas made his international debut two weeks after his 20th birthday against India in Rajkot and went onto play his first Test Match against Pakistan the same year in Kandy. Two years later he was a key member of the side that went onto win the World Cup in Lahore.

"It’s a sad day when such a great player goes out of Test cricket. He’s a true champion, probably the only Sri Lankan fast bowler we can call a true legend of the game. He stands shoulder to shoulder with the greats of the world cricket," captain Kumar Sangakkara said paying tribute to Vaas.

A devout Catholic and a man who enjoyed life to the fullest, Vaas has always maintained that he wasn’t the most talented fast bowler to emerge from Sri Lanka, and had to work extremely hard to get to where he got eventually.

"The greatest thing about Vaasy is that when I got into the side he was one of the first guys to come and talk to me when I was a reserve in the Pakistan series in 2000. When you think of Vaasy, you remember fitness, strength and class. He worked his butt off over the years to keep such an amount of fitness," Sangakkara, further said about Sri Lanka’s second highest wicket taker in both forms of the game.

"He’s probably the only bowler in the world to bowl on conditions like this and manage to pick up so many wickets. Where spinners usually do well, Vaasy has excelled. Everyone in the team has a great amount of respect for him. He’s a true champion, probably the only Sri Lankan fast bowler we can call a true legend of the game."

Two years ago, Vaas became only the third player to play 100 Test Matches for Sri Lanka and his 110 Tests is the second most by a Sri Lankan, a list headed by Muttiah Muralitharan.

The highlights of Vaas’ career include a ten wicket match bag in Napier in 1995 as Sri Lanka won its first Test Match overseas. In that series he also excelled with the bat with a couple of half-centuries, but overall underachieved with the bat despite managing a Test hundred.

SSC was also the venue where he picked up eight wickets in an innings, a World Record and the best bowling analysis in ODIs. Critics argued that he could have gone onto pick up all ten wickets, but his captain Sanath Jayasuriya pulled him out of the attack with Zimbabwe down to the tail although he still had two overs left to finish his quota.

Then he picked up a hat-trick off the first three balls of the game in Pietermaritzburg against Bangladesh in the 2003 World Cup, a tournament he finished as the highest wicket taker.