Lankans have all the ingredients to win - Sana’s mother

President’s call made the change:

Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: Breeda Jayasuriya, the proud mother of dashing opener Sanath Jayasuriya said that the Sri Lankan team has all the ingredients to beat Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup final on Saturday.

Breeda (64) who has followed the game and his son’s performances during the past sixteen years believed that the Sri Lankan team has all the resources to crown themselves as the World champions for the second time.

She was of course little concerned about Sanath’s failure in the semifinal match but was confident that the left

 hander will fire all cylinders in the all important final in Barbados on Saturday.

She did inquire from Sanath and also discussed that rare dismissal in the semifinal fixture over the phone. But she said that Sanath just wanted to forget that match and start a new innings with the intention of winning the World Cup once again.

In fact Sanath Jayasuriya now require only 58 runs to complete 12,000 runs in one day internationals.

India’s Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman ahead of him with a tally of 14,847 runs. In the present World Cup tournament Jayasuriya has amassed a total of 484 runs at an average of 44.88.

The thirty seven year old veteran has two centuries and one fifty to his credit with a top score of 115. In addition Jayasuriya needs just three more sixes to surpass Ricky Ponting’s record of 29 sixes in the current World Cup tournament.

Breeda Jayasuriya also recalled with great emotions her son’s heroics in the 1996 World Cup tournament. It was in this competition that Sanath emerged as one of the World’s most uncompromising strikers of the ball with his style of pinch hitting during the first fifteen overs of the innings.

Short in stature but powerfully built, his cuts and pulls with awesome power and his brutal bat wielding

certainly have destroyed many bowling attacks on many occasions.

Jayasuriya has also emerged as an extremely effective and canny left arm spinner especially in one day internationals where his stock leg stump deliveries are mixed up with clever variations in pace.

Breeda Jayasuriya recalled Sanath’s young days where she even sacrificed her occupation to transform her son into an outstanding cricketer.

She said that it has been a long hard journey since then combined with happiness, joy and sometimes even great disappointments.

In fact it seemed all over for the master blaster and his position in the side was more vigorously debated and a one day slump prompted several pundits to call time on his career which forced him to retire in 2006.

Breeda Jayasuriya said that she was totally against Sanath retiring at this stage as she believed there was at least five more years of cricket left for her son.

She said that it was really difficult to convince Sanath but certainly things began to change with the intervention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It was at this stage that Sanath Jayasuriya began to rethink about his career and the rest is now a part of history.

He bounced back in typical form in the one day series against England while demonstration he has a few more miles left on the clock.

Jayasuriya certainly did not let down his fans as he helped Sri Lanka make a historic five nil clean sweep in the one day series scoring 322 runs with two centuries at a fantastic average of 64.40.

He also made his presence felt in the VB Series in Australia while compiling 293 runs including one century and a fifty at an average of

36.62. His appearance in Saturday’s final could probably be his last outing in a World Cup tournament.

Even then his sparkling batting will be remembered for a long time having being a genuine entertainer throughout the World. He still holds the record for the fastest fifty (17 balls) in one day internationals and also scored the fifth fastest century (48 balls) in one day internationals.

Jayasuriya made his one day international debut in December 1989 against Australia at Melbourne and is the only batsman to score more than 150 runs on four occasions in one day internationals.

He made his test debut against New Zealand in Hamilton in 1991 and is currently Sri Lanka’s highest run getter.

One of the finest moments in his career was when he was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.

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