Ashantha Lakdasa Francis de Mel (born 9 May 1959) is a former Sri Lankan Test and ODI cricketer and selector for the national team.
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.
First, at Headingley against Pakistan, he took five for 39, but got little help from his teammates and couldn't quite carry the team to the target, being last out as Sri Lanka needed 12 more to win off 10 balls.
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.
The visitors had chosen to bat, but de Mel ran through the middle order, getting players like Ravi Shastri, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar out, and finishing with five for 64.