In a cricket environment that is potentially at an all time low, I want to dwell for a minute on a fading star who has contributed to Test cricket being the prestigious event that it has been for the past 130 years.
When play begins at Bellerive Oval tomorrow, we will be more than likely watching the last rites of one of Sri Lanka’s greatest ever players, Sanath Jayasuriya.
In a trmendous career that has spanned three decades at the top, Jayasuriya has contributed to the most successful period in Sri Lankan cricket. Adam Gilchrist is credited with changing the face of one day cricket but in fact it was 12 years ago that Jayasuriya actually pushed the boudaries, literally, with his aggressive stroke play within the first 15 overs. This approach to the game culminated in what must be Jayasuriya’s crowning moment in his career, when Sri Lanka lifted the 1996 World Cup, defeating Australia. All forms of cricket have never been played the same since.
He then became a regular in the Test arena from this point on, with immediate success. His famous bottom handed slices over point became a feature of the red ball game and slowly his influence had an impact on the scoring rates in Test cricket, most notably applied by the Australian squads of the past ten years to unprecedented success.
A score of 340 against India in 1998 was his greatest legacy to the game of Test cricket, as was his ability to break a partenship with his annoying ‘darts’ with the ball. A measure of his respect in the world of cricket can be explained by the fact that although Sri Lanka required an impossible run rate in the last overs and with rapidly fading light in the final of the 2007 World Cup, both Big Daddy and Uncle J-Rod wouldn’t declare the game over…………..until Jayasuriya was dismissed. A sentiment expressed by most Australians.
Jayasuriya has been an extremely loyal servant to not only Sri Lankan cricket but to the game itself. Let’s hope, at the ripe old age of 38, he can produce one last barnstorming knock tomorrow to not only toast his own career in the right fashion, but to breath life into a limp game.
I wish him luck.
The man is a freak. Well said Sime.
True.Steve Waugh writes in his book about how in the 96 WC, people became so obsessed with dismissing Jayasurya and Kalu that they ran the tisk of ignoring a powerful middle order. I still remember how he finished off Manoj Prabhakar’s career as a cricketer, and then again as a politician. In his new career as a politician, he arrived in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi to canvas for votes. A crowd of students gathered and every time he opened his mouth to address them, they’d chant, “Jayasurya… Jayasurya..” Scarcely have i seen anything funnier.
I reckon he is the fittest cricketer among the ones who are above 35 and still playing the game. I don’t think there are many. The man will play well into the 40s.
@John, lol! J Rod, well said about the slash. I remember a love hate relationship with the slash because more often than not we would be at the recieving end, but sometimes, with two fielders patrolling the area from point to third man, Jayasurya would be caught out.
Obaid, your right about the slash but i didn’t write it. Sime did. This post should help clear it up.
lol, the writer bios are awesome! Thanks for the clarification. I love anybody who hates Ganguly and I cant help like you guys more and moreQuestion for big daddy… how can you hate somebody who did this to Ganguly?
Obaid, the good thing about big daddy is that in no way does reason or logic ever enter his mind.