Sanath reaches another milestone

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Sri Lanka will start as the favourites to take a two nil lead in the series but the cynosure of all eyes will be on veteran Sanath Jayasuriya who is set to surpass another huge milestone in his illustrious career during the second one day international against England at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium today.

The dashing left hander will be the most caped player in one day internationals when he takes the field this afternoon which will be his 400th outing since having made his debut in 1989. India’s Sachin Tendulkar was the closest to achieving that feat having represented his country in 397 one day internationals.

The 38 year old allrounder has so far accumulated a total of 12157 runs at an average of 32.85 in addition to his tally of 305 wickets. Jayasuriya is also Sri Lanka’s highest run getter with 6791 runs from 107 Tests matches.

Jayasuriya said that it is a dream for him to play in his 400th one day international and surely this will be one of the most memorable moments in his playing career. He said that the 1996 World Cup victory and Sri Lanka’s entry into the final of the 2007 World Cup are some of his finest moments and today’s achievement will also added to those happy memories.

In fact Jayasuriya has a special place in the long series between Sri Lanka and England and he is the highest run getter with a total of 1143 at an average of 44.08 from 28 matches. He is also the highest wicket taker from either side with 29 scalps to his credit.

Even then Jayasuriya believes that his career should someday come to an end and is determined to produce one hundred percent for his team until his retirement period. In fact he played a sterling role during Sri Lanka’s 119 run triumph in the first one day international scoring a sparkling 41 and claiming one wicket for 12 runs from 2.5 overs at the same venue.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena also will be looking for another big score from the master batsman which will help his team to take a two nil lead in the series to boost their morale. The pressure will be on England as they need to win at least one of the next two one day matches to stay alive in the series.

Sri Lanka have decided to retain the same line up that performed duties in the first one day international which means that Kaushal Lokuarachchi will need to wait for another chance. However the Chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel said that he is pleased with the present combination and need no reason to make any changes.

De Mel said that if there would have been any changes it was in connection with their fourth bowler but in this case Farveez Maharoof has done more than to retain his place in the side. The medium fast bowler produced a man of the match performance as he returned outstanding figures of four wickets for 31 runs.

However the wicket that will be used for the second one day international will be somewhat different but still it should play well according to the national curator Anuruddha Polonowita. His main concern of course was the rain that fell last morning and on the previous day which meant that the wicket will be covered for a longer period.

Polonowita noted that Sri Lanka could have easily piled up over three hundred runs in the first one day international because the wicket was ideal for stroke making. He promised that the new wicket too will behave in the same manner and a lot of runs could be made at this venue.

England’s main concern is their inability to play against the slow deliveries which was quite evident during Monday’s first one day international. They simply threw away a golden opportunity when they slumped from a promising 58 for 1 to 102 for 6.

Meanwhile England are set to retain Graeme Swann as their only spinner for today’s second one-day international which means that there will be no place for Monty Panesar, who was also left out from the first game on Monday. England are likely not to make any changes with skipper Paul Collingwood quite pleased with wicket-keeper Phil Mustard’s debut.

Even then England may try to get more out of Ravi Bopara as the Essex all-rounder looked wasted at number seven in the batting order and did not bowl an over.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, Kausal Lokuarachchi, Dilhara Fernando, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Farveez Maharoof.

England (from): Paul Collingwood (captain), Alastair Cook, Phil Mustard (wkt), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson, Graeme Swann, Monty Panesar, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Luke Wright, Chris Tremlett.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and T. H. Wijewardena

Third umpire: Gamini Silva

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath.