Jayasuriya returns to form as Mathews demolishes feeble India

India's stay at No. 1 in the ICC rankings lasted all of 24 hours. Sri Lanka reasserted their superiority at home, scoring 307, and then strangled wickets at regular intervals to completely rout India in the dress rehearsal for Monday's final. Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilina Kandamby scored brilliant nineties after which the Premadasa reaffirmed its status as one of Sri Lanka's safe houses. Leading a canny display of seam bowling was Angelo Mathews, who picked out six wickets like plastic ducks in a shooting gallery. Blinded by the lights, India were steamrolled and suffered their biggest loss, in terms of runs, on Sri Lankan soil.

After Kumar Sangakkara had won the toss and chosen to bat, there was a welcome return to form for a key player. Jayasuriya, without a fifty-plus score since January, could have gone on 13 when he edged Ishant Sharma wide of slip, but was chanceless thereafter. He used the width on offer to judder boundaries and as Sri Lanka reached 34 in four overs, India had reason to fear the worst.

The loss of Tillakaratne Dilshan didn't cramp Jayasuriya's style and he continued to punish even the smallest indiscretion in line and length. With Jayasuriya pulling and driving RP Singh for three fours in an over, India's best option was to train their efforts at the other end. MS Dhoni gave them the breakthrough by stumping Mahela Jayawardene down the leg side. Sangakkara departed soon after, out lbw to a straight delivery from the impressive Harbhajan Singh, whose first six overs cost 13 as he struck a teasing line.

Jayasuriya had been slowed down due to a loss of strike. Incredibly, he spent 13 deliveries spread over 9. 1 overs in the forties. As the pop anthem of the year, the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling", blared across the thumping stadium Jayasuriya raised his half-century. The crowd cheered loudly. Those cheers turned to thunderous applause when Jayasuriya hammered Yuvraj Singh's short-pitched offerings over midwicket for consecutive fours. Jayasuriya's running between the wickets was superb and belied his age. Seven doubles - three of which came in one over - and three triples were just as punishing for India as the 13 boundaries Jayasuriya picked.

With the crowd rooting for his every run, Jayasuriya played to the gallery: Ashish Nehra was cleverly swatted wide of short fine leg, Yusuf Pathan was swept and paddled with power and precision. There was to be no century, however, as Nehra removed Jayasuriya for 98.

But there was something more deadly to come. Kandamby and Chamara Kapugedera put together an 83-run partnership that would all but seal the fate of the game. As is required when a pair must build on the excellent work of a player before them, they kept the scoring rate healthy. They weren't as belligerent as Jayasuriya but ran well, called loudly, and found the gaps.

Kandamby made sure to cut out any ambitious swings through the off side, opting to run hard for must of his initial runs and only backed himself to play aggressive shots when the run rate needed a boost. Anything that was too full or too loose disappeared and plenty in between was pushed away for ones and twos. The boundary patrollers were kept on attention as he swatted and deflected regularly.

A fabulous display of clean, crisp hitting - not slogging - helped Sri Lanka poach 53 off the batting Powerplay. A flurry of chips and biffs sailed over the square-leg region and extra cover, in between two awesome laps around the corner and one violent heave over midwicket. Aided by a drop at mid-on when he was 73, Kandamby added 18 more to his total and ensured Sri Lanka a winning score.

On tracks like this, against skilful bowlers who know more about choking than the average serial killer, successful pursuit of 308 needed something special. It wasn't to be. India again lost Dinesh Karthik early in the piece, gloving a short ball from Thilan Thushara down the leg side, and when Sachin Tendulkar turned a slower ball from Nuwan Kulasekara to mid-on, the warning sign was flashing.

With Tendulkar back in the hutch India shifted to the lowest gear. Yuvraj Singh survived a clear nick when on 9 but repeated the loose prod and nibbled one behind. Suresh Raina, one of the heroes of yesterday's run chase, nicked his first ball. Rahul Dravid was twice reprieved by Sri Lanka's fielders who missed the stumps, but his luck ran out on 47 when Mathews snuck one past the bat. The rest came and went without much impact against Mathews, who bowled nippy, stump-to-stump seam-up bowling. It literally was a procession: pitch it straight, get a bit of cut and nip, and thanks for coming.

Missing their lead spinner and hardly relying on Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka's latest masters of asphyxiation did it comfortably in the end.

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Is it time for Jayasuriya to call it a day ?

With 436 matches and more than 13,000 runs under his belt, Sanath Jayasuriya is undoubtedly one of greatest plaWiyers in the ODI pantheon. But like all good things come to an end, Sri Lanka's most explosive opening batsman is now in the last leg of his brilliant career.

He has gone through lean patches before. Like in July 2004, after two consecutive hundreds against Bangladesh and India, Jayasuriya's form went into a slump for 26 innings before he again broke free with a 114 against  Australia at Sydney in June 2006.

Then there was phase between March 2007 and June 2008 when he went without a big knock for 29 innings at a stretch. Before the slump started, he got a three-figure knock against the West Indies in their den.

The next one came in the 30th innings against Bangaldesh in Karachi. Jayasuriya topped that with another one against India at the same venue six days later.

That Jayasuriya has scored one hundred and two 50s in his last 20 innings may not sound very alarming but there is a marked difference in his approach now. Earlier, when Jayasuriya was on song, one could hardly differentiate a good ball from a bad one.

He has this uncanny knack of playing a short-arm pull on a good length ball on or outside the off stump, and deposit it over the square leg fence.

But now Jayasuriya waits for a loose ball to pounce on it. Even in the first match against New Zealand on Tuesday, he waited and waited before he got out caught at thirdman, trying to create space to cut a rising ball.

Rivals no longer think about plotting Jayasuriya's downfall because he doesn't look to be the same fearsome batsman he once was. However, the Lankans are not willing to pull the curtain on his career yet.

"It is nothing like that," says his former opening partner Romesh Kaluwitharana with whom he terrorized the world, exploiting the field restrictions in the first 15 overs.

"Santh is still the same batsman. He is going through a lean patch alright but he will come out of it soon. I have seen him do that in the past and I am sure he will do it now too," he added.

His current opening partner Tillakratne Dilshan thinks that he is just one knock away from regaining his old touch. "One good innings and people will again see the same Sanath of yesteryears," said Dilshan. "Moreover, he is very fit and he has no injury worries. Lean phases do come in a cricketer's career, it is nothing permanent," Dilshan said.

"And if Sanath is fit and wants to continue, Sri Lankan Cricket will never stop him from competing," added Kaluwitharana.

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Jayasuriya , Arjuna Ranatunga & co add Lankan Flavour in SPG centenary match

On Sunday morning former India skipper Ajit Wadekar was at Shivaji Park. He had an eye on the sky. Shivaji Park Gymkhana (SPG) were playing Parsee Gymkhana and Wadekar was hoping that the rain stays away.

Twenty two Test players in all, including Vijay Manjrekar, Subash Gupte, Ramakant Desai, Bapu Nadkarni, Wadekar and Praveen Amre have represented Shivaji Park

As part of the centenary celebrations, Wadekar is banking on old and trusted friends. During the early 1970s, Wadekar's State Bank of India (SBI) team used to tour Sri Lanka. This was before the Island Nation received Test status.

The SBI tours were aimed at helping the Lankans improve their standard of cricket and at the same time it allowed Indian players to adapt to different conditions.

A celebrity match, as a part of the centenary celebrations, will be held at the SPG shortly after Ganesh Chaturthion August 23. 

"Arjuna Ranatunga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya are among the Sri Lankan players who have confirmed their participation. Invitations have also being extended to Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli among others," Wadekar told.

"These Sri Lankan players can't say no to me. Sri Lanka is like a second home for me. I have a bond with them that stretches back to many years. It'll be a great game of cricket." 

Source : DNA India  

Jayasuriya Feels The Pinch As Runs Dry Up

Has the oldest swinger in town lost his mojo?

That's the leading question New Zealand's cricketers were dead batting as speculation mounts over the future of Sri Lanka's original master blaster, Sanath Jayasuriya.

Now on the wrong side of 40, Jayasuriya has been unable to get to double figures in three innings against New Zealand, his latest failure for Sri Lanka A on Sunday made back page headlines -- not the attention one of the island's sporting icons is accustomed to.

But there is no denying Jayasuriya, the man who pioneered the art of pinch-hitting at the 1996 World Cup, is entrenched in a form slump that threatens a dream of retiring on his own terms at the next edition of the tournament 15 years later.

In a potentially ominous sign, former test opener Upul Tharanga was added to a revamped Tri-Series squad of 16 last night, one of five personnel changes as Sri Lanka reassess after their Twenty20 series defeat.

Jayasuriya, who started a remarkable 435-match ODI career against Australia at the MCG on Boxing Day, 1989, managed only one and seven in last week's Twenty20s.

Mistimed pulls twice prompted his downfall as New Zealand astutely avoided bowling length balls likely to be crunched through point or extra cover -- two traditional Jayasuriya sweet spots.

Then, in the one-day practice match, he sparred another short ball to be caught at the wicket for two, another example where New Zealand's bowling plans had the desired result.

Ten runs in three knocks, and sadly for Jayasuriya these failures can no longer be considered an aberration.

Since he made his 28th ODI century against India at the ripe old age of 39 years and 212 days in January, Jayasuriya has scored 137 runs in sevens matches at 18.85 -- with a top score of 37.

His Twenty20 stats are equally discouraging for the man who has a mountainous 13,202 ODI runs in the bank.

Jayasuriya remains the format's most prolific scorer behind New Zealand's Brendon McCullum, although, he averages 15.62 over his last eight matches since scoring 81 at Trent Bridge against the West Indies in the ICC World Twenty20 in June.

McCullum witnessed Jayasuriya's recent woes at close range but was cautious when asked if a star of Sri Lanka's World Cup triumph in 1996 was on the wane.

"He is, but you never write him off do you? He's got so much experience, he's torn attacks apart over a number of years.

"We know what he's capable of so we just have to make sure we execute the plans that we've got and never give him a break if we've got him on the back foot," McCullum said.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was also diplomatic.

"We understand a class player can always strike at any time and I suppose we're expecting him to come out of it pretty quickly.

"The thing with him is brings an all round package to the game," Vettori said, referring to Jayasuriya's darting left arm spin -- the provider of 316 ODI wickets.

Vettori said it was commonplace for cricketers to revisit happier times when going through a tough run of form.

And if Jayasuriya is the type to look back, he has plenty of highlights against New Zealand to lift his spirits.

He scored his maiden ODI hundred at New Zealand's expense, a scintillating 140 at Bloemfontein in 1994 at a strike rate of 97.90 -- a scoring clip that has remained a trademark of his career.

Four more tons were subsequently registered against New Zealand, most recently a typically brisk 111 at Napier in December 2006.



Source : NZ Hearald
 

Jayasuriya meets his Waterloo?

Under-fire batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will find out today whether he made the mistake of not throwing in the towel or had his right to live on borrowed time as Sri Lanka will most probably give him one last shot in the opening match of the Tri-Nations series at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.


The veteran of 435 matches, 13,000 runs, 28 tons and 67 half centuries has not delivered a kill since he made a devastating 125 against India at the Asia Cup final in Karachi in June 2008 and now finds himself having to choose between settling a score with his critics or committing career-suicide.


None could be more worried about his presence in the team than his team-mates.


“We are looking forward to playing Sanath (Jayasuriya) as an opener. He is looking forward to it himself and we know he’s someone who can play and come back roaring”, said Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara.




Jayasuriya goes into today’s contest with nothing or very little for the New Zealanders to fear and his present mess has given the tourists something to cheer.


“We like to keep him (Jayasuriya) out of form. We know he is a class player who can always strike back”, said New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.


But Jayasuriya apart, both Sri Lanka and New Zealand contend that what happened in the two Twenty-20 games will count for little in the 50-over game.


“If we try to dwell in the past and forget what’s going to happen tomorrow, then we are going the wrong way.  We have to look forward and one-day cricket gives us more overs and a lot of time”, said Sangakkara.


New Zealand after their new found edge over Sri Lanka with victories in the two Twenty-20 games admit they will have to play better cricket to beat their hosts.


“Fifty over cricket is different and we got a lot to do. No doubt we’ll take the good things that we had in the Twenty-20”, said Vettori.


India is the third team in the fray and the contestants will play for a digital trophy, the first of its kind in the world which can record the proceedings like a computer.


Source : Daily Mirror

Jayasuriya suffers from serious form loss as SL take on NZ | Compaq Cup 2009 - 1st ODI

Sanath Jayasuriya is going through a worrying trough 

With only 15 days until the Champions Trophy you'd think the teams' preparations would be ready for the final polish. But Sri Lanka and New Zealand still have a few experiments to complete and players to evaluate in their last chance before the bigger competition.

Both Sri Lanka and New Zealand are reliant on explosive openers and two men behind, with a worrying degree of rawness in the middle- and lower-orders. Both also carry a mixture of inexperienced batsmen and those whose potential remains unfulfilled due to a flawed approach at the crease.

Sanath Jayasuriya's lack of form is a serious concern. "We'd like to keep Sanath out of form, but we know that a player of his class can strike at any time," was Daniel Vettori's assessment.

Sangakkara addressed Sri Lanka's concerns on the eve of the tournament but was confident of a change in limited-overs fortunes when the teams stepped into the 50-over format. "You can read into a loss and come up with a number of theories but it's best to just deal with it and move on. The reality is that New Zealand outplayed us," he said. "It was unfortunate that we lost the first game after having such a strong start from Dilshan. In the second game, we were second best all throughout. One-day cricket is a different ball game. There are more overs and you have more time. You have to raise your standards. I'm confident of our abilities." 

Sanath Jayasuriya fails in second grade team

Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya failed to make use of the opportunity given to him by the national cricket selectors ahead of the forthcoming home Tri-Series, when he was dismissed cheaply yesterday in a warm up game against New Zealand at the SSC grounds Colombo.

Jayasuriya faced eleven deliveries and scored just two runs before being caught behind by Gareth Hopkins off paceman Darrell Tuffey with the total of Sri Lanka “A” team reading just seven.

Tuffey dealt another blow in his next over removing promising youngster Mahela Udawatte to restrict the home team to 13 for 2.

Earlier in a surprise move that sent a signal about their thinking, Sri Lanka national cricket selectors  included Jayasuriya in the Sri Lanka “A” team to play New Zealand in the warm-up game.

The 40-year old former Sri Lanka captain has been in terrible form in recent times and has been a worry to the team at the top of the order, totalling just 132 at 18.66 in his last seven One Day International innings since January this year.

National selectors have also come under heavy fire for persisting with Jayasuriya despite the failures, and including him in the warm up game sent a message to Jayasuriya that his place in the side is under evaluation.

Jayasuriya has retired from Test cricket and didn’t have many opportunities to face quality international bowling in the middle since late, and was obviously rusty as his shaky batting proved during the two Twenty20 internationals against New Zealand last week.

Today’s warm up game was meant to give him an opportunity to get himself back in the groove. 

Jayasuriya however, does not face an immediate threat to his place in the Sri Lanka ODI team as he has already been named in the country's 15-member final squad for the ICC Champions Trophy tournament which begins in South Africa shortly.

Source : Daily Mirror . lk  

Jayasuriya will be given every chance till he gets back to form - Sangakkara

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has defended veteran dasher Sanath Jayasuriya’s horrific batting form and said that the team management will be patient with the 40-year-old till he gets back to form, whenever that will happen.

"It's always a concern when a batsman's out of form," Sangakkara said at the post match press conference after the Twenty20 loss to New Zealand on Friday night. "But we all know what he can do and what he has done. We have to give him every chance to get back in there and score runs.''

Sangakkara had also admitted that the fragility of the Sri Lankan top order was hidden by Tillekratne Dilshan’s magnificent form and was exposed when Dilshan failed.

"When a batsman's in form, he always seems to be the guy scoring the runs at the top. Unfortunately the other guys haven't been supporting him as they can," said Sangakkara. "They have the ability to do so but unfortunately we haven't had that. It's a learning process, form comes and goes but I think the players we do have are well capable of getting us the runs and the starts we need to win."

Sangakkara also conceded that his team was outplayed by the Black Caps. "It was a great pitch, but we lost too many wickets and were not able to build the kind of partnerships you need. We tried everything and we still came up short. A loss is always a concern. Once you're outplayed, you have to accept it. You learn from it and move on."

Source : DailyMirror.lk

Vote for The Greatest ODI Batsman - Sanath Jayasuriya

From Aug 31,2009, www.espnstar.com, along with SportsCenter India, Score Tonight and Inside Cricket, are running a joint Online – On-Air initiative to decide which star from a whole host of great batsmen has made the biggest impact on the high-octane, adrenaline-pumping world of one-day International Cricket.

A stellar list of batting stars including Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting are short-listed for the right to be crowned “The Greatest ODI Batsman” – and it is your vote that will decide who wins.

Below, you'll see a list of sixteen batsmen who have wowed Cricket crowds over the years. When voting opens, we're looking for you to decide exactly who was “The Greatest" ODI Batsman ever.

At present Sanath Jayasuriya is competing with M.Bevan and Sanath is leading in the race for the next round with approx 9% lead.

He shall be facing Saeed Anwar next.

I request all Sri Lankan and Sanath Jayasuriya fans to vote for Sanath Jayasuriya till the poll ends,as many times as possible and give Sanath the place he deserves.

Greatest ODI Batsman of all time - Sanath Jayasuriya.

Here is the link to vote : http://www.espnstar.com/games/the-greatest-odi/game/

_____________________________________________________

Note : The mechanism to decide the winner is as follows:

1. Sixteen Batsmen - past and present - have been shortlisted.
2. This list has been chosen by a group of ESPN STAR Sports representatives. From now on, it's your choice as to who wins.
3. The voting mechanism will be in the form of a knock-out.
   1. The 16 will be paired against each other in a knockout draw chosen at random.
   2. Pairings will then be made available for the public to cast their votes for a set period.
   3. The "winner" (i.e. the person with the bigger percentage of votes cast) will go through to the next round - while the loser will be "eliminated"
4. This voting process is repeated for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final scheduled to be held from 09 – 21 September.
5. The winner will then be announced during the Champions Trophy pre show on Tuesday 22nd September.

Shastri rates Jayasuriya as greatest ODI all rounder of all time

Former India captain Ravi Shastri has revealed which players he believes are the greatest ODI stars of all time and Sanath Jayasuriya is one of them.

"If I was to choose my best ODI batsman then it would be Sachin Tendulkar and if I was asked to name my best ODI bowler then it would be Wasim Akram," said Shastri in an interview with the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.

"But looking at all-round cricketers and their impact on the game then I am tied over Viv Richards and Sanath Jayasuriya."

"As for Sanath Jayasuriya, he ripped up and re-wrote the one-day rule book through his amazing hitting at the top of the order and he's still doing it today, past the age of 40.

"On top of that, he's always been a brilliant fielder and a very under-rated bowler. Sanath is also, quite simply, a match-winner in every sense and in terms of his performances against India for example, when he's fired then invariably Sri Lanka has won.

"You can talk about the abilities of Muralidaran, Vaas, Sangakkara, Jayawardena and even Aravinda de Silva going back a few years but when Sanath is on song he has set up the match for the rest of them.

"He has redefined batting at the top of the order. When someone starts playing the way he did – and still does – back in the mid-1990s then cricket sense tells you that person will be found out at some stage. But here we are in 2009 and he's still at it, smashing opening attacks everywhere, just as he did over a decade ago. He might not be in his prime any more, that period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but he can still hammer any attack. I saw his record century in Singapore against a qualityPakistan attack a few years ago and that was a privilege that still sticks in the mind."

"The best way to sum up the difference between Viv and the rest through his career was that he was the one player who had the ability to spoil a good game of cricket. Even when I was in the opposition and on the receiving end of one of his performances it was still possible to marvel at his ability.

"That ability was primarily as a batsman, of course, and with his body language and his aggression, when everything was in sync' then he was impossible to bowl at. But what shouldn't be ignored is his fielding which also turned matches, most notably his run-outs that helped beat Australia in the 1975 World Cup final and with the ball he invariably produced solid spells with crucial wickets through his effective off-spin. He was the match-winning package in every sense.

Source : DailyMirror.lk