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First Sri Lankan to score 7000 Test runss
I
enjoy batting at SSC — Mahela
By
Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Mahela Jayawardene was ecstatic after batting his team into a position
from which they could push for a series-clinching win against England
on the third day of the second Test at the SSC grounds yesterday.
“It was important for us that we bat through the first session.
England had put us under pressure by scoring 351 so we needed to
make sure we bat through the day today without too many hiccups.
Now we’ve got an advantage we need to push ourselves and go
for a win if we really work hard tomorrow,” said Jayawardene
at the end of the day.
“On a wicket like this the second, third and fourth days are
the best to bat on. Batting England out of the Test would be our
first target which we’ve done three quarter of the way. We
just need to make sure we push that advantage in a couple of more
sessions tomorrow by scoring a couple of 100 runs. Then England
cannot put us back under pressure. They need to make sure they save
this Test match. It would be interesting to see what Murali can
do on a fifth day wicket,” he said.
Jayawardene described the wicket as flat but from the rough there
was a lot of bounce and turn which was absent from the wicket in
Kandy. “This is a harder track; the rough from this wicket
will have more bounce. If the fast bowlers bend their back there
is something in it,” he said.
During the course of the day Jayawardene set up many batting records
becoming his country’s leading run-getter surpassing former
captain Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of 6973 runs and becoming
the first Sri Lankan batsman to cross the 7000-run mark in Tests.
He also equaled Aravinda de Silva’s highest number of Test
hundreds when he completed his 20th.
“I am very honoured to have passed Sanath’s record. He’s
been a brilliant ambassador for us. He pushed the limits for a lot
of youngsters in Sri Lanka cricket and challenged everybody,”
said Jayawardene.
“I just need to work hard at my game. Everyday you learn something
out there when you play international cricket. You get that into
your game and make sure you improve on that. I was pretty happy
with Murali’s and Kumar’s phenomenal efforts. I had no
idea of overshadowing that. As a team we try and work harder challenging
ourselves individually to be better players. That’s what it’s
all about,” he said.
Jayawardene stated that he and Sangakkara had now taken on the responsibility
of grooming the team for the future.
“It’s the time that we’ve got a couple of youngsters
in the side. A lot of senior players have retired and there is a
lot of responsibility on Kumar’s and my shoulder. We work really
hard to make sure we carry the team through this period so that
the youngsters can come through. We’ve got some exciting talent
behind us. We need to guide them in the right direction,” said
Jayawardene.
Commenting on his own knock of 167 not out which also took him past
2000 runs in Test matches at the SSC, Jayawardene said: “I
have played ten years of club cricket here. I know this wicket pretty
well and enjoy batting here. It’s value for your runs, good
outfield and brilliant atmosphere. If you stick to your basics and
work around your stroke play and be patient, you can get a lot of
runs here. You need to take calculated risks but not too many because
it is quite easy to get carried away on a wicket like this. Because
the ball comes on nicely you are tempted to hit every ball out of
the park.”
Speaking further Jayawardene said: “We challenge ourselves
to be better players every day. I work really hard at my game. My
problem has been that I haven’t been very consistent with my
career and I try to make big scores as much as possible. Batting
around with Kumar has helped me a lot. We compliment each other.
I’ve had a lot of big partnerships with him. We just try and
push each other to make big scores and now we got into that habit.”
Commenting on the England bowling Jayawardene said: “England
bowled a pretty good line and length I just couldn’t get on
top of them. The spinners tried bowling to my pads so you couldn’t
take too many risks. For me the important thing was to take the
advantage and tomorrow to try and push that advantage and go for
a win.”
Opener Michael Vandort who also made a hundred and helped Jayawardene
in a double century partnership spoke of the help he got from his
captain in the middle.
“Every Test innings is important but from the team’s point
of view we were 22-2 when Mahela joined me. He helped me a lot throughout
the innings. We get a long well in the middle because this is about
the third or fourth century partnership we have put together. I
have been playing a few rash shots during my innings and every time
I did that he came and game me advice,” said Vandort.
England coach Peter Moores gave full credit to Sri Lanka for the
way they batted throughout the day to wrest the initiative from
his team.
“It was a tough day. It’s a tough place to play. It was
hard work. Sri Lanka batted really well. Sri Lanka is in a very
commanding position in the game because the way Jayawardene and
Vandort played. We have to come back tomorrow and keep working hard
and try and keep that lead to a minimum,” said Moores.
He praised his bowlers for keeping Sri Lanka down to three runs
an over on a flat wicket.”To me that is a good effort. The
lads gave 100 percent throughout the day and you’ve got to
appreciate that. When people play you well you’ve got to take
it on the chin.”
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