Education
He was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo up to ordinary level and then moved to Royal College Colombo.
He was educated at Isipathana College, Colombo up to ordinary level and then moved to Royal College Colombo.
He was one of few Sri Lanka bowlers in the 1980s who could get the ball to anything above medium pace, and he was also said to have the ability to get the ball to swing out. He only played one Test match outside the Indian subcontinent, which may explain why his Test average is so high, as conditions there are generally not thought suitable for swing bowlers. He often made small contributions with the bat, and only made ducks three times.
1983 cricket World Cup
His finest moment as a bowler arguably came at the 1983 World Cup in England, where he used the helpful conditions to register his two only ODI five-wicket-hauls.
De Mel returned Sri Lanka"s best bowling figures in every match. He was the tournament"s second highest wicket taker with 17 wickets, one behind India"s Roger Binny.
Many years later, it was discovered that one of the wickets credited to Rumesh Ratnayake in Sri Lanka"s first round match against England was actually taken by De Mel, but the scorecards still don"t reflect that. 1985 Test with Indian cricket team
After this, he usually put in solid performances, but the closest he came to the 1983 heroics was in a 1985 Test with India.
The visitors had chosen to bat, but de Mel ran through the middle order, getting players like Ravi Shastri, Kapil Development and Dilip Vengsarkar out, and finishing with five for 64.
Sri Lanka led by 129 runs on first innings, but de Mel failed to take a wicket in the second innings as India drew the match. Career end
His career was ended in 1987 due to a knee injury, but he continued within the Sri Lankan cricket system, and in May 2004 he was appointed head of selectors in Sri Lanka. That lasted for one year, whereupon he was sacked, only one month after the sports minister Jeewan Kumaranatunga had announced that he would be retained for another year.
Post Cricket Ashantha De Mel went on to become the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Sri Lanka Cricket (Salt Lake City) which was responsible for selecting players for matches and tours.
He was also the Chairman of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.