Jayasuriya likely to play Kolkata One-dayer

Sanath Jayasuriya during a practice session prior to the 4th ODI match against India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday

After being dropped in the last two matches, veteran Sanath Jayasuriya may return to the Sri Lankan playing XI in the do-or-die fourth One-dayer against India at Eden Gardens on Thursday.

In the absence of in-from all-rounder Angleo Mathews, Sri Lanka struggled in Cuttack in the third One-dayer and the visitors might be forced to bring in the once explosive opening batsman.

The team management gave a lot of focus on the 40-year-old left-hander in the practice session on Wednesday and he spent a considerable amount of time batting at the nets.

Team coach Trevor Bayliss was, however, non-committal when asked whether a Sachin (Tendulkar) vs Sanath Jayasuriya battle is on the cards on Thursday.

"There is always a chance. But, we have not finalised the team yet. In the last two games, we wanted to play with two genuine spinners. Unfortunately, that meant Sanath missing the spot there," he said.

"The pitch seems to be a very good batting wicket, promising plenty of runs," Bayliss said.

Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan did not attend the optional practice on Wednesday.

With Dilshan effectively doing the job Jayasuriya had been doing earlier -- giving Sri Lanka an explosive start, the latter could be used in the middle order once again after the first ODI at Rajkot.

But Jayasuriya, it seemed, is yet to relish the role of a middle-order batsman.

Jayasuriya has some good memories at the Eden with the left-hander scoring a breezy 63 not out before rain washed out the match against India that the stadium hosted last on February 8, 2007.

And not to mention his 1996 World Cup semifinal outing when he foxed the Indian batsmen with his left-arm spin taking three for 12 to reduce the home team to 120/8 before unruly crowd behaviour handed Sri Lanka the match and final berth.

(Source)

The joy of Jayasuriya - Peter Roebuck

No mere smash-and-grab artist, Sanath Jayasuriya has revolutionised opening and done it with a shy exuberance and no hint of swagger

- Peter Roebuck

(December 16, 2009)

Sanath Jayasuriya: a man given a gift and able to express it in any company

Brutality, venom and fury are words that have been attached to Jayasuriya's batting, yet they are not apt. His work always seemed cheerful

 Sanath Jayasuriya has been at once a devastating hitter and amongst the foremost opening batsmen of his period. It is no mean combination. His career, his very life, has told of a man given a gift and able to express it in any company. He is the bathroom singer who became an opera star. He is not to be remembered as he has appeared in the last few fading seasons, as a fitful batsman of rare power but spasmodic performance, not quite a spent force but surely an exhausted volcano. No man deserves to be judged by his years of slow decline.

In some less sentimental nations older hands are ditched as soon as the struggle against the clock begins, or at any rate earlier in its inexorable progress. Age is its own cancer. Jayasuriya has lingered and served and sometimes succeeded, but he is not feared half as much and that tells the tale. Rest assured, he has been a giant.

And yet there is one part of Jayasuriya that has remained intact even in this long farewell. His reputation as a sportsman and as a man of standing has not been touched even as his form slips, his eye slows and his feet stop moving. Jaya is a reminder that gentlemen can come from all corners of life, all religions, all periods, all stations. Throughout, in triumph and failure, victory and defeat, he has carried himself with distinction, has fought hard and without rancour, has resisted the enshrouding fog, has kept plundering and pillaging in his imitable way, and always has commanded respect. Sri Lanka has seldom been better served. Cricket rightly salutes a fine servant.

No such story could have been foretold as Jaya embarked upon his career. Of course he had played a good deal before arriving in Australia in 1996, had made his mark at 6 or 7 in the order, had chipped in with a few wickets, bowling with a lowish arm that seemed designed to discourage spin. He was known as a spinner who could bat a bit. As it tuned out, spin was his bread and butter, batting was his honey and jam. Hereabouts he looked like an honest artisan, strong of shoulder, keen of eye, uncompromising of purpose, but lacking craft and sophistication. He did not look like a champion. But then it is not a question of looks. The heart cannot be seen from a distance.

He had opened once before - to dismal effect. Then, on that Australian tour, some bright spark - presumably it was Arjuna Ranatunga, a man who knew the audacious power of ideas - gave this beefy batsman an opportunity to open the innings again. At the time the Lankans seemed to be asking a butcher to become a surgeon. Few outside the camp expected the rough-and-ready lefty to prosper in his elevated position. He might belt a few runs but he could not last, could he? He lasted over 12 years.

It said a lot about the burly southpaw that he opened the innings against the Australians and promptly smacked 48 in 57 balls in the first innings and 112 in the second. Admittedly Adelaide provided a friendly pitch, but he was a long way from Matara, and promotion had taken him far beyond the comforts of previous experience. Naturally the Australians did not expect him to linger. Precious few openers from the region had flourished down under. Moreover, he seemed out of his depth.

In the books his bowling is described as slow left-arm orthodox. His batting might as well be called fast left-handed unorthodox. A short life but a merry one was assigned to him. But the ball kept going to the boundary and bowlers kept standing with hands on hips and spectators kept admiring his spirit. He was still opening the innings in 2007, and scoring 78 against the might of England. As it turned out, he knew what he was doing.

And so began an astonishing career as an opening batsman capable of hitting the ball with such withering power that the leather could scarce survive his attentions and stitches came unstuck. In those coruscating days of strength and sharp eye, Jaya often caused mayhem. Crouching over his bat, all alert pugnacity, relying on clubs as opposed to strokes, waiting till the last instant to nominate his shot and then executing it with uncomplicated conviction, he was able to tear attacks apart. Not for him old-fashioned notions of gradually taking the shine off the ball, carefully building an innings, gathering momentum. He was not a man for introduction or hesitation. If the ball was in the right place, he smacked it. And the problem was that the right place covered quite a lot of turf. Bowlers had little margin for error. Before long they often had flustered minds, chaotic fields and alarming figures. And it all happened in the flash of an eye. The like of it had seldom been seen.

Brutality, venom and fury are words that have been attached to Jayasuriya's batting, yet they are not apt. His work always seemed cheerful. Even bowlers did not seem to mind being carted around by him - or not much anyhow. Crowds wished him well. There is a shy exuberance about his play, a hint of the village green put in higher company, and he has been without ego and swagger. He competed without resentment, was popular with all sections.

Asked about how to handle him, the great and lost Malcolm Marshall said that after a few inswingers had been rudely dispatched he had changed to outswingers aimed at the left-hander's pads. He seemed puzzled that other bowlers had not adopted the same tactic. A modest man, he did not realise that no one could swing the ball either way at will at 90mph.

Eventually bowlers did concentrate on denying Jayasuriya space to cut and pull and clip and carve. Even then precision was required. He preyed upon anything fractionally off target, pounced upon anything misdirected or dropped a little short. He dished out punishment till his time came and then he departed with an air of regret.

In these days of aggressive openers, Twenty20 and Virender Sehwag, it is not easy to convey the impact that Jayasuriya has had upon the game. In many ways he was ahead of his time. In 1996, the year of his breakthrough, and Sri Lanka's World Cup victory, and for a few seasons thereafter, he broke records for fast fifties, made captains scratch their heads, made teams realise that a match could be won in the first hour with bat as well as ball. He was compelling viewing. It was a tale of the unexpected.

But to cast Jayasuriya as a smiter is to do him a disservice. Bad techniques get exposed in Test cricket. Jaya has scored almost 7000 runs at 40 (and, by the way, taken 98 wickets at 34 apiece) much of it in a period when scores were lower than they are today. He has been underestimated. Nor has he been a mere smash-and-grab man. To the contrary he has been enough of a cricketer to collect steadily once the field had been pushed back; enough of a batsman to know that the chance to compile a big total does not come every day. Along the way he has collected a Test 300. And even that first hundred in Australia took 188 balls. Once established at the crease he was prepared to push the ball around: more tax collector than debt collector.

Jayasuriya stopped playing Test cricket in 2007 but continues to appear in ODIs and 20-over matches. Sometimes he has dropped down the list because younger men have come along, comrades inspired by his derring do, uplifted by their island's continued excellence and also by its capacity to absorb all types of players. It was not so long ago that Sri Lanka played clean, blue-blood cricket: correct, respectable, coached. It did not quite suit the local temperament, but post-colonial nations often seek respectability.

Often these players emerged from the top schools, where they learnt to behave and play with left elbow raised and be polite. Until a decade ago many Sri Lankan batsmen (probably not including Ranatunga) called the umpires "Sir". These schools produced many fine cricketers but the spirit of the country was somewhat caged. Coming from an unfashionable school, a Buddhist establishment at that, Ranatunga owed nothing to former ways.

A shy, impoverished, fearless opener from a southern city, he was in the right place at the right time. Ten years earlier he might not have made the grade. Ten years later bowlers might have been better placed to hold him in check.

Sri Lankan cricket has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Without trying to present himself as a revolutionary, just by being himself, Jayasuriya has been in the vanguard. Nowadays he travels the world and waxes and wanes, forming a formidable opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai, failing for Kwa-Zulu Natal and often his country as well. Really, he is living on his reputation, but then it does give him considerable leeway.

Captains are loath to omit match-winners. Anyhow, he can contribute with the ball and even at 40 does not let the team down in the field. But the curtain is ready to fall.

Jayasuriya has had a glorious career He has helped to bring a World Cup to a small, expectant, unsung, often troubled island, has brightened his game and never made it scowl. Throughout he has played with rare joy and conducted himself with exceptional humility. In my mind he stands not far behind Frank Worrell and Harold Larwood in the list of the game's great men.


Source - Peter Roebuck is a former captain of Somerset and the author, most recently, of In It to Win It

Sanath Jayasuriya - A Tribute to the Legend of Modern Cricket

Sanath Jayasuriya will not be remembered as a legend of the game, but he perhaps should be. There have been some notable retirements in recent times (Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brian Lara to name just three) but the little opener from Matara deserves to be held in similar company.

He is of course still going strong in One Day Internationals (he signed off from Tests last December with a typically attacking half century) , so it is a little early for a career review. However, Jayasuriya's longevity (he made his international debut in 1989) earns special recognition, as his career does more than span eras; he helped start a whole new one in cricket.

Few will forget his impact at the 1996 world cup. Previously a lower order batsman and useful left arm spinner, he forged a devastating opening partnership with Romesh Kaluwitharana that revolutionised the way ODI cricket is played. Standard wisdom dictated openers should accumulate runs and keep wickets in hand for a late assault, but Sri Lanka's pinch hitters blazed away from the start, taking full advantage of the fielding restrictions that were in place during the opening overs.

This tactic became the batting blueprint in ODIs, although no one could carry out the plan as Jayasuriya has done. He is the second highest ever ODI runscorer and in consideration of his 307 wickets, is perhaps the greatest ever all rounder in the 50 over format. Three of the fastest ever ODI tons have come from his bat and his 17 ball half century against Pakistan in 1996 is the fastest ever 50. No one has hit more ODI sixes.

Jayasuriya managed to transfer this form into the Test arena. He is Sri Lanka's second highest Test runscorer and third highest wicket taker. He holds the seventh highest ever Test score and was a successful captain for four years, maintaining the progress Sri Lanka made under Arjuna Ranatunga.

Dropped after failing to reach 50 in 20 innings last year, he won back his place after lighting up the Indian Premier League (what a shane he will miss out on the Twenty20 era - the perfect batsman for the format). Only Geoffrey Boycott was older in scoring an ODI ton - what a contrast in styles ! - and we should enjoy Sanath while we still have him. No one will play his flicks, cuts and pulls with the same panache: a unique player with a unique style.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Oliver

FlashBack 1997 | Sanath Jayasuriya honoured by `Wisden' and Indian Cricket (15 May 1997)

No cricketer in recent times has revolutionised batting in the abbreviated form of the game more than Sanath Jayasuriya, the left-handed opener of World Cup champions Sri Lanka.

Jayasuriya with his lesser known partner Romesh Kaluwitharana are recognised as the trendsetters for getting the maximum runs in the first 15 overs.

Jayasuriya's exploits during the 1996 Wills World Cup, which played a major part in his country emerging champions have not gone unrecognised.

DOUBLE RECOGNITION

In fact it has earned him double recognition as one of the `Five Cricketers of the Year' in both the "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1997'', widely recognised as the cricketer's `Bible' and, "Indian Cricket 1996'', considered the `Wisden of the East'.

No Sri Lankan has had the honour of being picked for such honours by two prestigious publications in one single year - 1996.

It was the year when Jayasuriya with his blazing approach made a mockery of the first 15 overs of a limited overs game that an exasperated England captain Michael Atherton made the comment that the authorities should seriously consider reframing the rules.

SUBMISSION

Atherton's comments were made shortly after Jayasuriya had blasted his men into submission and out of the World Cup with a marvellous knock of 82 off 44 balls.

`Wisden' commented: "Jayasuriya's assault on England's bowling in the quarter-final at Faisalabad was authentic, aggressive batting without insult to the coaching manual''.

In picking Jayasuriya as one of its five cricketers, `Wisden' comments: "Sanath Jayasuriya cannot yet be classified as a great player which makes his influence in 1996 all the more remarkable. His World Cup exploits in an unexpected Sri Lankan triumph did not just assure him of a lasting place in the game's history, but promised - indeed, for a few heady weeks, insisted - that the course of the game would change forever. None of The Greats have ever achieved that''.

PINCH_HITTER

`Wisden' also notes that it was Jayasuriya's combustible stroke-play that saw the term `pinch-hitter' being stolen from baseball to define an opening batsman specifically given the licence to adopt a high-risk approach in the opening overs.

Jayasuriya is in the exalted company of Pakistanis Saeed Anwar and Mushtaq Ahmed, Indian Sachin Tendulkar and West Indian Phil Simmons, who are the other cricketers of the year.

By picking Jayasuriya, the time-honoured publication stepped away from century old tradition to include a cricketer in its Hall of Fame who has not played a season of cricket in England.

"Jayasuriya's performances in the World Cup reverberated everywhere and earned him the right to be in our Hall of Fame'' wrote `Wisden' editor Matthew Engel.

THIRD

Jayasuriya is only the third Sri Lankan to be honoured by this world acclaimed almanack which is in its 134th year of publication. The others were Sidath Wettimuny (1985) and Aravinda de Silva (1996).

`Indian Cricket' described Jayasuriya's batting as "a curious mix of science, magic and madness, based on quickness of hand and eye, and a willingness to do what is pretty dangerous - and dirty - work''.

That Jayasuriya won the `Most Valuable Player' award was due to a handful of runs and wickets that were worth their weight in the World Cup for sheer timing.

"It is timing which is the very essence of one-day cricket - coming good on the day, at the hour, in the mere minutes which decides which way a match is going to swing. The award had an altogether different ring to it and required different credentials. For the world champions, Jayasuriya was the magic trump who turned up everytime the Lankans sought something inspirational'' said the annual.

SEVENTH

Jayasuriya is the seventh Sri Lankan to be honoured by `Indian Cricket' which is in its 50th year of publication.

Aravinda de Silva (1990), Ravi Ratnayeke (1987), Duleep Mendis (1983), Somachandra de Silva and David Heyn (both 1976), and Stanley Jayasinghe (1965) are those who have figured in the roll of honour previously.