|
The Mahela-Michael show
By
Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are the present generation
Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva of Sri Lanka cricket. Following
the exit of Ranatunga and de Silva (both captain and vice-captain)
from the scene at the start of the 21st century, Sri Lanka looked
to a similar pair to carry them through to the next decade or two.
Jayawardene and Sangakkara have fulfilled that role to perfection
and like their predecessors are captain and vice-captain who compliment
each other with their contrasting styles of right-hand and left-handed
batsmanship.
While Sangakkara held centre stage at Kandy scoring a match-winning
152
and going to the top of the ICC Test batting rankings, it was Jayawardene’s
turn at the SSC. Sangakkara made only one here, but Jayawardene
rose to the occasion to steer Sri Lanka into a strong position with
his 20th Test hundred that drew him level with the ‘great’
De Silva.
By stumps on day three Sri Lanka were 379-4 wickets in reply to
England’s 351, a lead of 28 on the first innings.
During his undefeated knock of 167 made in 507 minutes off 367 deliveries
with 13 fours and a six, Jayawardene appearing in his 92nd Test
also became the first Sri Lankan batsman to cross the 7000-run mark
in Test cricket replacing Sanath Jayasuriya (6973 runs from 110
Tests) as the country’s leading run-getter in the longer version
of the game. Jayawardene also holds his country’s highest individual
score of 374, another record he took off Jayasuriya last year. At
SSC, his home ground, Jayawardene stands supreme having scored eight
of his 20 Test hundreds and became only the second batsman in the
world to score over 2000 runs (19 Tests) at one Test venue. The
other was England’s Graham Gooch who’s total of 2015 (21
Tests) at Lord’s, Jayawardene passed by the end of the day.
A captain’s value to the team is gauged not by his own individual
contribution but how he manages his players and contributes to their
personal success. In that aspect Jayawardene shone brightly and
was outstanding. He had a big hand in Vandort completing his fourth
Test hundred and his second against England and also Chamara Silva
(49) helping him in a fourth wicket stand of 128. Whenever either
of these two batsmen faltered in their concentration or played a
false stroke, Jayawardene would walk down the wicket to speak to
them offering valuable words of advice. This way he ensured that
Vandort did not display the rashness he showed at Kandy when he
attempted to reverse sweep Panesar when Sri Lanka was looking to
set England a substantial score to chase in the fourth innings.
In fact Jayawardene guided Vandort to his century and the left-hander
fully deserved his runs. Although not having the same capacity and
range of strokes as his captain Vandort displayed immense concentration
as much to frustrate the opposing bowlers.
Vandort made full use of a dropped catch by Cook at 15 off debutant
Broad to put England to the sword going to his century off 180 balls.
It took him 284 minutes and comprised 15 fours. He also smote Panesar
over midwicket for six before the second new ball taken after 80
overs did him. Sidebottom, England’s most successful bowler
caught the tall left-hander in front of leg stump off the fourth
ball to see him off at 138 compiled in 355 minutes and 259 balls
with 18 fours and a six.
Vandort’s partnership with Jayawardene – 227 off 311 balls
for the third wicket completely swung the game Sri Lanka’s
way after they had lost 22-2 by the ninth over. On a slow placid
surface England toiled hard for wickets and they didn’t have
a Muralitharan in their bowling ranks to run through the Lankan
batting. Even Muralitharan despite all his world class talent admitted
that the complexion of the SSC pitch had changed to the extent that
it lacked the usual bounce and pace. In such circumstances it is
going to be a hard grind for any touring side against Sri Lanka
as South Africa discovered much to their discomfort in July 2006
when Jayawardene in alliance with Sangakkara put on a world record
stand for any wicket in first-class cricket of 624 on this same
ground.
If at all England saw any hint of capturing a wicket it was when
Kevin Pietersen was bowling his off-breaks from the press box end.
He spun the ball appreciably but the slowness of the pitch enabled
the batsmen to survive. Harmison bowled brilliantly in brief spells
while Broad was accurate, but the ball seldom beat the bat. On the
occasions it did, the ball did not carry far enough into the waiting
hands of the fielders. Later in the day Harmison was rewarded for
his hard work with the wicket of Silva.
Scoreboard
ENGLAND
1ST INNINGS 351
SRI LANKA 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 105-2)
MG Vandort lbw b Sidebottom 138
WU Tharanga c Prior b Sidebottom 10
KC Sangakkara c Prior b Sidebottom 1
DPMD Jayawardene not out 167
LPC Silva c Bopara b Harmison 49
J Mubarak not out 2
Extras (b-5, lb-6, w-1) 12
Total (4 wkts at close, 128 overs, 551 mins) 379
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Tharanga), 2-22 (Sangakkara), 3-249
(Vandort), 4-377 (Silva).
To bat: HAPW Jayawardene, WPUJC Vaas, CRD Fernando, SL Malinga,
M
Muralitharan.
Bowling: Sidebottom 25-3-72-3 (1w), Broad 25-4-63-0, Harmison
28-8-67-1, Panesar 32-4-111-0, Pietersen 12-0-43-0, Collingwood
1-1-0-0, Bopara 5-2-12-0.
|
