Jayawardene making waves

Dinesh Weerawansa

Star middle order batsman Mahela Jayawardene achieved a rare personal milestone during Sri Lanka’s 74-run triumph over India in the final of the recent Tri-zSeries in Dambulla.

The 33-year-old stylish right-handed batsman became only the third Sri Lankan batsman to complete 9,000 runs in One day Internationals (ODI). Since making his ODI debut for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe at Premadasa Stadium on January 24, 1998, Jayawardene has come a long way to become an integral ingredient in the composition of Sri Lanka team.

After a rich domestic season, Jayawardene was named Runner Up to Thilan Samaraweera at the prestigious Observer Schoolboy Cricketer Awards in 1994. After leaving Nalanda, he joined the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in domestic competitive cricket since 1995. Since then, he has led the Maitland Place club to many victories.

He started his ODI career making just one run not out as No. 7 batsman. But more importantly, it was the winning run in Sri Lanka’s five-wicket triumph over Zimbabwe. In other words, Jayawardene had opened his 9,000 plus rich harvest of runs with a winning hit (run).

That was the beginning of this great cricketer who showed his class in only the second game of his ODI career with a majestic 74. His maiden ODI century came in only the 11th match of his career- against England in a Carlton and United World Series Cup match at Adelaide Oval in Australia. The manner in which he marched towards his maiden ODI century was little too much for a novice of only 11 ODI games.

He had the courage to over come an extensive pressure situation, with Sri Lanka reeling at 134 for 4 in the run chase. But Jayawardene made a blistering 120 to win the match, which was marred by Ross Emerson’s no-balling of star off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing.

In next to no time, young Jayawardene was able to cement his place in the national team. His batting was a treat to watch, cutting, pulling and driving are the galaxy of strokes he has in his batting armoury.

More importantly, Jayawardene has the ability of adjusting quickly to suit different circumstances - to be more aggressive or to adopt a slow and steady policy. Depending on the form of his batting partner at the other end, Jaywardene is equally capable of playing either an attacking role or to switch on to defensive mode.

But under natural conditions, Jayawardene prefers to adopt a slow and steady policy. When his opposing bowlers are on top, Jayawardene keeps his head down and picks only the loose deliveries to score his runs. But his opponents can’t keep down this elegant player for too long. After he takes a good look at the bowlers, Jayawardene’s willow starts talking with a wide range of strokes.

The hallmark feature in Jayawardene’s batting is that he never rushes to conclusions and doesn’t believe in going after each an every ball all the time. He has a sharp eye to pick the deliveries early and responds quickly with the right stroke with perfect footwork. He has often followed this successful formula in both the ODIs and Tests and he has been successful with it in both the versions of the game.

Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene was born in Colombo on May 27, 1977 to Sunila and Senerath Jayawardene. Young Jayawardene had to overcome psychological pressure after losing his younger brother, Dhishal (16) of a brain tumor. It even disrupted his cricket career briefly.

What is unique in Jayawardene is that he has the ability to adjust quickly between Tests and ODIs. While going after bowling in ODIs, he is equal to his task in the established game. That is precisely why he has been able to increase his aggregate his Test and ODI side by side. Figuring in 326 ODIs for Sri Lanka, Jayawardene has so far aggregated 9,003 runs at an average of 32.73 with 12 centuries and 55 fifties that included a career best innings of 128.

He has enjoyed an equal share in the established game. In 113 Tests, jayawardene has aggregated 9,408 runs with an attractive average of 54.06 - exceptional by any standard. He has scored 28 Test centuries and 36 fifties with a career best knock of 374. He has scored centuries against all Test playing nations. Jayawardene shared a world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakkara in the first Test against South Africa in 2006.

The Jayawardene-Sangakkara alliance produced the highest partnership for any wicket in the history of first-class cricket. That was also the first instance of a partnership of over 600 runs was made in first-class or Tests. That erased the previous record for the third wicket in Tests - 467 runs by Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones for New Zealand.

Jayawardene is only the second Sri-Lankan to score a Test triple-century. His marathon knock of 374 came off 572 balls with 43 fours and a six - the fourth highest individual innings in Test cricket. During that innings, surpassed the previous highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test - 340 made by Sanath Jayasuriya against India in 1997.

During his illustrious career as one of the greatest cricketers ever, Jayawardene had the privilege of ‘robbing’ a record from one of the all-time greats - Sir Don Bardman. When Jayawardene scored that home-made 174 in the recent Test series against India, he erased the Australian legend’s record eight Test centuries at a single venue.

That was Jayawardene’s ninth Test century at SSC grounds, his home club venue. Scoring over 18,000 runs in ODIs and Tests is no easy task and only an all-time great could reach this great milestone - a rich double of 9,000 runs each in Tests and ODIs. Besides his golden feats with the willow, Jayawardene has been a sharp fielder in close catching positions, especially at slips.

In the absence of regular captain Marvan Atapattu, Jayawardene led Sri Lanka during their summer tour of England in 2006 and the visitors drew the Test series one-all before making a 5-0whitewash in the ODI series.

For his outstanding contributions, Jayawardene was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2007. That was a season filled with success for the Lankan master batsman who hit one century and four fifties.

His brilliant century, against the Kiwis helped Sri Lanka to win the semi final and emerge as the Runners-up in the World Cup after going down to Australia in the final.

He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. He achieved this feat on the 21 st of February 2009 by scoring his maiden Test century against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan. He had a successful stint as captain, during which he led Sri Lanka to some of the greatest wins. He also had the honour of becoming the first recipient of the Best Captain’s award at the inaugural ICC Awards show in 2006.

Despite having a brief lean period, he found his act together once again after he was relieved of his captaincy burden. Ever since Jayawardene has showed no mercy to any of the top bowlers in the world and been a lavish contributor towards Sri Lanka team’s success. Mahela Jayawardene has achieved many great milestones in cricket but above all, he is a sporting ambassador and person who has maintained the high traditions of the gentlemen’s game.

Undoubtedly, he is one of the most accomplished batsmen, admired for both the elegance of his play and the solidity of his technique, in world cricket today. His humble qualities, mannered conduct, intelligence and articulacy makes him a truly gentleman cricketer.