Education
Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana.
Dilhara studied at De Mazenod College Kandana.
He is a right-handed pace bowler. He started off his school career as a basketball player but was spotted by the college cricket coach because of his build and height. He was a key member for 2007 Interstate Commerce Commission and 2011 Interstate Commerce Commission runner-up teams.
Fernando is best known for his rare technique when bowling the slower ball by splitting the fingers on the ball as it is released from the hand.
He is the fastest bowler produced by Sri Lanka. International Fernando debuted for Sri Lanka in a Test Match against Pakistan at Colombo in June 2000.
Six months later in a game at Durban he clocked 91.9 mph. He bowled at 93.40 mph vs Bangladesh at India.
His international career however has been limited due to injury.
In the period of a year he suffered two stress fracture of the back and as a result missed the their home series against Australia in 2004. In the 2010 tour of Australia, in the 3rd and final ODI at The Gabba, he clocked speeds reaching 150 kilometres per hour (93 mph). In 2008 he appeared briefly in English county cricket, playing one County Championship and two Pro40 matches at the end of the season for Worcestershire.
He is a Christian (Catholic) and sometimes attends church with Chaminda Vaas.
On 13 October 2007, in the 5th game of an ODI series with England, at Colombo, Fernando took career-best bowling figures of 6 for 27, as Sri Lanka thrashed England by 107 runs. This was the first time Fernando had taken more than 4 wickets in an ODI innings, and his feat placed him 5th in the list of best ODI bowling by a Sri Lankan.
England required just 2 runs in the last ball of the match, where Ravi Bopara in batting. Fernando delivers a good ball and Bopara was bowled by 2 runs short.
Fernando completed the series with 158 career ODI wickets.
As of 17 June 2011, only Chaminda Vaas, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken more ODI wickets for Sri Lanka (and all three have taken over 300 ODI wickets). However,Fernando did not live up to his full potential. His lack of consistency and control over deliveries made him less reliable bowler at international level
Undoubtedly,Fernando could have been a lethal weapon for Lankan attack like his teammate Lasith Malinga had he stuck to the basics of control and consistency.
Fernando is not seen in international cricket since 2012, due to his injuries and emergence of many pace bowlers from Sri Lanka. After 3 years, Fernando have picked for the T20I series against India.
He played his first international games after 4 years, on 14 February 2016 against India. Due to few runs to get by India, he did not able to get wickets and Sri Lanka lost the match by 9 wickets as well.
Dilhara Fernando has 3 Tests and 1 ODI five-wicket hauls.
Test Five Wicket hauls ODI Five Wicket hauls One Day = Manitoba of the Match awards Twenty20 International cricket.