Jayasuriya – still Sri Lanka’s match winner

The master is still a match winner

The world’s best ODI player with a fantastic record not just in ODI’s but in Test’s too, Sanath Jayasuriya may be 40 plus but is still raring to go. Despite a rather modest return at home in the recent T20 games against New Zealand there is little doubt that Sanath Jayasuriya is still very much the Master Blaster and holds the key to a very great extent with regards to the success of Sri Lanka in the shorter version of the game and in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Known for his attacking batsmanship with his liking for the upper cut and the pull Jayasuriya can be devastating when on song. All Sri Lankans will be naturally hoping that “Sana” as he is fondly known will be able to fire on all cylinders come the big event in South Africa as there is very little doubt that he is one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket.

Looking in to his beginnings Jayasuriya started his game as an aggressive middle order batsman and was always hailed as a future star for Sri Lanka. This was further confirmed when on a tour to Pakistan with the Sri Lanka A team Jayasuriya had the rare distinction of scoring back to back double hundreds, a feat which I am sure will be extremely tough to emulate! Especially for a visiting batsman in Pakistan!
Despite his brilliance in batting in the middle order Jayasuriya’s ascendancy to the openers spot was something totally unexpected. Having been asked to open on the controversial tour to Australia in the mid nineties, the great left hander since then has never looked back. It was on the same tour that both Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana another hard hitting wicket keeper opening batsman started the innovative batting approach to the first ten overs of a ODI game by smashing the bowlers to all parts of the ground giving the game a new dimension and definitely to the rest of the teams some food for thought in its approach to ODI cricket. Come 1996 Wills World Cup Sanath Jayasuriya received a major recognition being picked the most valuable player of the tournament, ahead of some big names such as Mark Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Sri Lanka’s own Aravinda De Silva, confirming his status as a rising star of the world scene.

Sanath Jayasuriya had arrived and was ready to stay for a very long time in the game!

Since then Jayasuriya has definitely been the star of many Sri Lankan shows. Be it smashing one day hundreds or scoring the 340 against India at the Premadasa Stadium in that World Record Test score or the breathtaking double hundred against England at the Oval, when Sri Lanka won a test match for the first time in that country, Jayasuriya was simply all class. With his phenomenal record of almost 20,000 plus runs at International cricket with 42 hundreds and 99 half centuries plus his 417 wickets, he will surely be a very strong contender for the title “Sri Lanka’s greatest ever Cricketer”.

It will be with that background and pedigree that Sanath Jayasuriya will enter the ring against the world’s top bowlers, when the ICC Champions Trophy begins with the opening game against the top ODI team in the world, South Africa. Taking a much closer look at Jayasuriya’s skills at the advanced cricketing age of 40 it’s interesting to note the many changes he has adopted in his batting and how beautifully his game has been fine tuned. Sanath Jayasuriya is without an iota of doubt one of the hardest working cricketers in the world. When critics questioned his ability to cope with the short rising ball directed at the body or his horizontal shots at the top of the order, Jayasuriya’s reply was to let his broad bat talk and that he achieved with a lot of dedication and commitment which he still religiously pursues even now. One could only but marvel at Sanath watching him on the cricket field, either fielding so brilliantly with his running, pickups and even accurate throwing or stifling a batting line up with his left arm spin or simply smashing the bowling around.

Jayasuriya has challenged even the fittest men in the cricketing arena of Sri Lanka in that aspect. It is a clear indication that he is still able to deliver. With not many more Everest’s to conquer for this great left hander, I am sure he would want to call it a day when he is on a high. And one way of being on a high is to perform in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Sanath we know you have done it in the past and we know you can do it again.

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The Matara Marauder - Forever young Sanath Jayasuriya

Sanath Jayasuriya is 40 years and 81 days today, but his current form makes it seem as if he is still in his 20s.

The balance that Jayasuriya maintains while playing his shots and the elegance with which he drives the ball to scorch it through mid-wicket is ample proof of the fact that he has not only lived to the tag of being the most experienced batsman in the game, but is still the best!

Although age catches up with most players, in the case of Jayasuriya it doesn't seem to have happened purely because of his dedication and determination to remain the best.

Watch Jayasuriya closely during training and it is evident that he puts in as much effort to maintain their fitness as they do to sharpen their skills

While Jayasuriya is at least a decade older than many of his team members, he does not shy away from competing with the youngsters during physical training. In fact, during the Twenty20 World Cup in England, he was seen performing more stretches than his team-mates.

Even in the nets, Jayasuriya's pull shots and on-drives are executed with incredible balance. His ability to pick the ball early on gives a feeling that he sights the ball better than others. Like Tendulkar, he too gets his pacers to bowl short at him and almost always gets behind the ball and hits it with immaculate perfection.

Off the field, he is a humble and simple cricketer with no airs of being the best in the game. During tours, he is hardly seen in the hotel lobby or even returning from late night parties. His main focus is performance.

Little wonder then that Jayasuriya has scored 13,433 runs in One-dayers. This Champions Trophy edition will be another opportunity to see him at his best.

Sanath Jayasuriya vs Sachin Tendulkar - Finals | The Greatest ODI Batsman Poll by ESPN Star

After weeks of polling by Cricket fans allover the world, The Greatest ODI Batsman poll by ESPN Star has come to the Grand Final stage.

The winner will be announced by ESPN during the Champions Trophy pre show on Tuesday, September 22, 2009.

Lets look at whom they both defeated in the Road to the Finals.

Sanath Jayasuriya beat :  Saurav Ganguly, Viv Richards, Saeed Anwar, Adam Gilchrist,Chris Gayle, Michael Bevan and Dean Jones.

Sachin Tendulakar beat : Aravinda de Silva, Brian Lara, Mathew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Abbas, Gordon Greenidge.

This being Sanath Jayasuriya Blogspot, I request all you fans to keep voting for Sanath Jayasuriya - The One who changed the way cricket is being played today !

Link to Vote : http://www.espnstar.com/games/the-greatest-odi/game/

40 year old veteran Jayasuriya breaks into ICC ODI Batting Ranking's Top 20

After the Tri Series Compaq cup moving up the order was Sri Lanka's veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya whose series contribution of 141 has helped him return to the top 20. The 40-year-old from Matara has jumped four places to 17th spot.

However, Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has failed to defend his 11th position and has fallen to 15th spot after scoring just 56 runs in three matches.

World Record for Sanath Jayasuriya – Most runs against a specific opposition

Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya has a world record to his credit – he now has most runs against a specific opposition in the history of one day games. He had an aggregate of 2714 runs prior to the start of the third game between Sri Lanka and India in the ongoing Compaq series.

When he was on 17 during the course of his knock of 98 in this game, his aggregate of runs against India stood at 2731 which was a world record for most runs by a batsman against a specific opposition in the history of one day games. At the end of this game, ST Jayasuriya’s run aggregate against India stood at 2812. The previous record was held by SR Tendulkar of India who had amassed 2730 runs against Australia.

ST Jayasuriya and SR Tendulkar are the only two batsmen in the world to aggregate 2500 plus runs against two specific oppositions. At the end of this game, ST Jayasuriya has an aggregate of 2812 runs against India and 2517 runs against Pakistan. SR Tendulkar on his part, has an aggregate of 2730 runs against Australia and 2611 runs against Sri Lanka. He scored 27 runs in this game

Jayasuriya still has a lot to offer - Murali

By Muttiah Muralitharan.

There is something about playing India that seems to bring out the best in Sanath (Jayasuriya). Having played with him for nearly two decades and having witnessed first-hand his fondness for their bowling, I was not surprised to see him confound his critics once again on Saturday night with a brilliant display. 
    

With no fifty-plus score since January, his critics in the local media were getting more vocal about his future as he is 40 now. However, we all know with Sanath that he is used to bouncing back and he takes just one knock to surge back to his best. As he showed, age is irrelevant if you are still fit and have fast reactions. 
   

 Sanath showed that fitness with his superb running. Playing One-day cricket in the Premadasa cauldron is exhausting even for young legs, but Sanath coped with that physical challenge easily. He also showed off the value of all his 437-game experience, settling the innings after the loss of Dilshan, Mahela and Sanga. 
    

Sanath’s effort shows that he still has more to give and as long as he can chip in with those kind of performances, he will remain a valuable member of our One-day unit. We have a mix of young and old in our team right now and both starred on Saturday. The performances of Thilina Kandamby and Angelo Mathews were just as heartening as Sanath’s knock. 
    

Our middle order has been a problem area for some time now. We’ve had players of ability, but no one has really settled. Now, though, Thilan Samaraweera is starting to shine and Kandamby is looking increasingly promising. The calm and mature manner in which he guided us in the final stages of the innings, especially in the final Power-Play, was very impressive. 
   

In Mathews we know we’ve also uncovered an all rounder of real substance: a top-class batsman, the best of which we are yet to see, and a canny seamer with a knack for taking key wickets, as he showed with his remarkable match bag of 6 for 20. He has the head for international cricket and I think he’ll mature into one of the best allrounders in the world. 
    

We were obviously delighted by our performance. But today’s game is the game that counts and we have to reproduce that form again. 
    

India were well below par, perhaps rusty after a long layoff and maybe even tired as they were playing back-toback games. I have no doubt that after a day’s rest, they’ll put together a much better effort. We were fortunate to win the toss on Saturday, but if we don’t on Monday then we have to be ready to overcome that disadvantage and restrict India to a manageable total. 
    

In the last series in February, we let them pile-up huge totals and the bowlers cannot let that happen in the final. Chasing anything above 250 will be tough.

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Jayasuriya and Aravinda reach Semi-Finals | ESPN Star Greatest ODI Batsman Poll

Good News !! Sanath Jayasuriya & Aravinda De Silva have reached the Semi-Finals of the Poll.

But the bad news is both are trailing against Sachin and Saurav respectively by small margin.  :'(

Time to vote as many times as possible and make a Sri Lankan win this poll, hopefully Sanath Jayasuriya

Link to Vote :  http://www.espnstar.com/games/the-greatest-odi/vote/

Ho (Sanna) Jayasuriya - Compaq Cup Finals Preview

Today is another day,another wicket and another match - the Compac Cup final between Sri Lanka and India at the R. Premadasa Stadium under lights.The Sri Lankans who had no difficulty in stuffing the Indians on Saturday,should stay focussed and not let complacency set in when they front up to the Indians and there should be no letting up till the Compac Cup is held aloft by captain Kumar Sangakkara.

On Saturday Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilana Kandamby were unfortunate to miss well deserved hundreds.

After the Jayasuriya, Kandamby show, Angelo Mathews took centre stage to demolish the highly rated Indian batting line up Those feats are history now and what matters is how the Sri Lankans perform today.

There is no doubt that the two skippers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be asking the gods to look kindly on them and help them win the all important toss. Winning of the toss would mean 50 per cent of the final being won.

The two skippers will sure have their hearts in their mouths when the coin is tossed.

On Saturday dashing left hander Sanath Jayasuriya came back to his batting form which he is renowned for.He was all concentration and determination as he began to unwind and play the strokes that has earned him bags full of runs in all versions of the game in his illustrious career.

Another repeat is expected from Jayasuriya. It is said that if Jayasuriya fires, the other batsmen tend to strike form. The 307 runs the team made proves this.

What was very noticeable was that the Indian pacemen Asish Nehra, Rudra Singh and Ishant Sharma did not pitch short and allow Jayasuriya to play his famous square cut,which in recent times has brought about his downfall.

Maybe they were reserving the short pitched ball to lure Jayasuriya today. Jayasuriya must guard against this and instead of going for his shots square of the wicket, should endeavour to play in front, going over the top when the opportunity presents itself.

When Jayasuriya was on song, it was irritating to hear Danny Morrison and Mike Haysman, the two TEN SPORTS commentators constantly referring to Jayasuriya as old man. Instead of being insulting, Morrison and Haysman would do well to concentrate and describe Jayasuriya in much more respectable terms and not belittle the great man, remembering that he has been tagged as the greatest one-day cricketer by two respected and brilliant writers in Scyld Berry and Don Cameron.

Morrison and Haysman can learn from the brilliant Tony Greig.

Jayasuriya has come in for a lot of stick in recent times for his failures with the bat. With this solid and well crafted knock of 98, he cocked a snook at his detractors.

When under fire for his failures, the only way Jayasuriya could hook these barbs is by letting his bat do the talking, like he did on Saturday before a packed audience who cheered this gutty cricketer all the way through his innings.

When Nehra got a ball to keep low and catch Jayasuriya in front two short of a dream hundred, and when umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised the dreaded finger there was a deafening silence by the crowd who sadly watched the great man walking back to the pavilion. Dharmasena a former team mate of Jayasuriya who had to perform that unpleasant task would have told Jayasuriya - "Sorry mate, you got to go".

After Jayasuriya set the stadium alight, young Thilana Kandamby blossomed and showed what he is capable of by running to a quickfire unbeaten 91, before running short of overs and missing out on three figure score.

After the batting lessons from Jayasuriya and Kandamby, right arm medium pacer Angelo Mathews ran rings around the Indian batsmen bowling a devastating spell to have the dream figures of 6 for 20 which earned him the man of the match award.

Mathews bowled his medium pacer on beautiful line and length and his in dippers especially was a lesson in this art.

The greatness of a batsman or a bowler is consistency. It is hoped that Mathews will maintain this consistency and deliver today too.

As for the Indians, they must have spent sleepless nights licking their wounds and wondering as to what hit them. The Lankans must guard against an Indian backlash.

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[VIDEO/PICS] Sanath Jayasuriya 98 from 79 balls vs India | Compaq Cup 2009

Jayasuriya whets his appetite - Hammers India

As last night’s match between Sri Lanka and India meandered to a close, fans at Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium held aloft a placard which read: “Tonight’s special – Indians barbecued”.


It was an apt description of India’s fate in the third match of the Compaq Cup triangular series. They crashed to a 139-run defeat, their worst against Sri Lanka, with veteran Sanath Jayasuriya (98) and youngster Angelo Mathews (6-20) feasting on their neighbours from across the Palk Strait.


Jayasuriya simply relishes the Indian bowling attack. He has scored more runs (2,812) and centuries (seven) against India than versus any other country. Even his last century in one-day internationals had come against them in January this year.


Since then, he had been struggling for runs with a modest aggregate of 139 from eight games and a top score of 37. Critics were getting increasingly vocal about the 40-year-old’s position in the Sri Lankan side. But he replied them in style.


Jayasuriya’s knock and Thilina Kandamby’s unbeaten 91 helped Sri Lanka post 307 for six and the score proved well beyond the Indians, who were bowled out for 168 in 37.2 overs.


The attacking opener Jayasuriya got off to a typically blustery start as Sri Lanka posted 72 from the opening 10 overs. He was 42 then, but did not reach his 50 until the 20th over, starved of the strike as wickets fell regularly at the other end.


Still, his 68th half-century, and first in nine matches, came in 45 deliveries.


Exactly 10 overs later, Jayasuriya fell two agonising runs short of what could have been his 29th century in ODIs. He tried to work Ashish Nehra across the line and former teammate Kumara Dharmasena showed no hesitancy in raising his finger.


Jayasuriya was the fourth Sri Lankan wicket to fall, with the score at 172 for four. Thilina Kandamby continued from there and the 27-year-old made sure the good start was not wasted.