What has the critics got to say now?

Sanath Teran Jayasuriya was born on June 30, 1969, in Matara. Exactly 39 years later last Monday (30), at the National Stadium in Karachi, he celebrated his birthday in style.

He was not in the original Sri Lanka squad for the Asia Cup tournament but Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge played the correct stroke with excellent timing. Jayasuriya was brought back to the tour squad at the eleventh hour.

It was then that those few Jayasuriya critics got disturbed and branded him as the oldest player in the tournament. But this ‘old man’ has shown a sportsmanship and skills of a player half his age. He played a gem-studded innings in Monday’s game against Bangladesh, following his half century in the first match.

Jayasuriya raced to his century in just 55 balls, providing the fireworks to entertain the crowd. His exciting innings of 130 runs came in just 88 balls and contained six sixes and 16 fours a true account of the volumes of control the veteran opener has against the hapless Bangladeshi attack.

Together with Kumar Sangakkara, who too is enjoying a rich harvest in Pakistan, they to raised 201 runs for the first wicket off 167 balls.

But Jayasuriya made just one mistake but that too was probably because of the fact that he put his country before self. He would have easily attempted to better his career best one day international innings of 189 and he had 22 overs more to try that out. Instead, Jayasuriya merely wanted to accelerate scoring and strengthen the Lankan innings further.

True that Jayasuriya is old but more he matures, more runs are flowing off his bat. He is old and there is no doubt that not many cricketers would survive at that age. Undoubtedly some of the present day international cricketers had been in their diapers when Jayasuriya made his international debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1989.

Those young Bangladeshis would have felt as helpless as babies when Jayasuriya celebrated his 39th birthday with that blistering century, thrashing the lads from Dhaka to all corners of Karachi National Stadium. More interestingly, Jayasuriya claims that better things are yet to follow.

In a post-match interview, Jayasuriya warned his opponents that the best of his batting is yet to come. The Master Blaster said that he was keen to make a big hundred in that game after missing out a golden opportunity against the same opposition in a preliminary round. The veteran opener said he had to make an impact somehow to regain his confidence back.

Jayasuriya has now aggregated 210 runs from his three outings and emerged as the first batsman to complete one thousand runs in the history of the Asia Cup. Had he made that century seventeen days later he would have become the oldest player ever to score an ODI century. Certainly, he could well take that record during the forthcoming home series against India.

When the success story of Jayasuriya is spoken, one cannot forget the resurrection of this great cricketer who was at the receiving end of the then selection committee in the latter part of 2006.

It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was instrumental in getting Jayasuriya back. The ‘Matara Mauler’ did not let the President and his fans down as he cracked a superb century in that very first opportunity he got in Sydney in late 2006.

Ever since, the rebirth of Jayasuriya has given a bitter time for his critics, a few scribes and a solitary selector. Jayasuriya has been going great guns ever since his 2006 come back. It was disclosed how then selectors forced Jayasuriya to retire from Tests. A couple of scribes wrote loads of rubbish to fulfill their ‘contract’ of getting rid of Jayasuriya.

But none of those media mafia or selection scandals could obstruct the path of this natural and village cricketer from Matara. As all of us know, Jayasuriya had his humble beginning at St. Servatious College, Matara and underwent immense hardships.

It was our sister paper Sunday Observer which first recognised the rural talent of Jayasuriya who was an uncut gem then. In 1988, Jayasuriya won the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year (Outstation) title and in the very next year, he was picked to represent the national team in ODIs.

Even after winning the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament award in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph, Jayasuriya still had to battle all odds to extend his career.

But today, he has proved that he is a fighter in both attack and defence. Against all those sinister moves and some media campaigns, Jayasuriya did just one thing to survive. He just let his willow to do the talking and the battle was won.

Not only the humble beginnings and blossoming as a World renowned cricketer but also his handling of tense and crisis situations are classic examples. They are not examples merely to young cricketers but to anyone who struggles to face challenges in life.

When Jayasuriya’s progress from the 1988 Observer Schoolboy Cricketer Outstation ~crown’ is talked about, one can not forget the great show that has produced legends. The Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2008 is around the corner and is bound to give birth to yet another star. It is nice to see SLT Mobitel joining the Mega show to provide financial backing.

It was Ranjan Madugalle who won the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year title at its inaugural year in 1979, some 30 years ago. Incidentally, the very same Madugalle, now the Chief ICC Match Referee, will grace this year’s 30th Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards ceremony, scheduled to be held at the BMICH on June 18.

Over the past three decades, the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year has produced many international cricket stars in the calibre of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, World’s highest Test wicket taker Muttiah Muralitharan, Former Test captain Marvan Atapattu, World record holder for the highest ever Test partnership with Jayasuriya, Roshan Mahanama (who now functions as an ICC Match Referee) to name a few.