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Highly successful year for Sri Lanka:
Murali takes centre stage
Chris Dhambarage
The record breaking performance of legendary off spinner Muttiah
Muralitharan took centre stage as the Sri Lanka cricket team completed
another highly successful year in all formats of the game.
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Kumar Sangakkara |
As the year 2010 draws to the end Kumar Sangakkara and his team could
look back with a great amount of satisfaction having enjoyed success
both at home and away.
In fact Sangakkara had the distinction of becoming the number one
batsman in the ICC Test Rankings for batsmen while pushing India's
Sachin Tendulkar into second place.
Single effort
Even then it was the single effort of Muttiah Muralitharan that
really lifted the country to greater heights as the entire World watched
the drama unfold when he captured his 800th wicket in a most spectacular
manner.
He will go down in history as one of the greatest cricketers ever to
have played the game. Having represented the country in a total of 133
test matches during a span of eighteen years Muralitharan is undoubtedly
one of the most adored characters in World cricket.
Muralitharan not only had the potential to spellbind the audience
with his sensational deliveries but he was also a perfect ambassador for
the game of cricket that he has been associated since 1992.
Epic effort
The historic Galle International Stadium was the venue for his epic
performance as he dismissed India's last man Pragyan Ohja on the final
day of the opening Test match of the series.
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Muttiah Muralitharan |
With this performance Muttiah Muralitharan achieved another milestone
when he completed a total of one hundred wickets against India in his
farewell test match. He is the first bowler in test history to perform
this unique feat.
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Mahela Jayawardena |
In the process of his brilliant performance he also equalled former
Australian legend Shane Warne's record of aggregating over 100 wickets
against three different countries. Muralitharan had earlier captured 112
wickets against England and 104 wickets against South Africa
respectively. In addition Muralitharan has captured the most number of
10-wicket hauls in Test cricket (18 matches) and also has the most
5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level.
Muralitharan retired from the longer version of the game as the first
and only player to claim 50 or more wickets against every Test playing
nation. He has taken 10 wickets in an innings against the most
countries.
Muralitharan is one of the few bowlers in the world to reach 1000
first class wickets and is the only player to take 10 wickets in a Test
match in four consecutive matches twice.
Muralitharan who is also the highest wicket-taker in the shorter
version of the game is the proud holder of two individual World records
on the cricket field, a feat that will not be matched by anyone for
quite some time.
The absence of ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was badly felt
thereafter as Sri Lanka struggled somewhat to dismiss their opponents
twice. In fact after their huge victory in the opening Test match in
Galle Sri Lanka lost their way and conceded the third and final Test
match to draw the series one all.
Weather
Sri Lanka's other home Test series was against the West Indies which
was badly affected due to the inclement weather situation in the country
recently. However Sri Lanka struggled to hold the visitors to a draw in
the opening match at the Galle Stadium. The Lankans then bounced back to
take the honours in the drawn second Test through a majestic 150 from
their captain Kumar Sangakkara at the R. Premadasa International
Stadium.
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Lasith Malinga |
The third and final Test of course was severely affected by rain with
only one innings being completed. The only bright spot for the home side
was the penetrative bowling of left arm spinner Rangana Herath and the
pace blitz of Suranga Lakmal who had the credit of claiming a wicket in
the very first ball of the match.
Suffered
As the series ended in a deadlock Sri Lanka suffered badly as they
slipped into the fifth place in the ICC Test Rankings for teams. More
disappointment was to follow as their ensuing five match one day series
against the same opponents was also postponed to January due to bad
weather.
Sri Lanka of course had started the year 2010 on a bright note having
clinched the Triangular Series in Bangladesh. After losing to India in a
preliminary round game the Lankans held their nerves to beat the same
opponents by four wickets in the final.
Man of the Match Nuwan Kulasekera led the way with a four wicket haul
as India were restricted to 245 runs from 48.2 overs. Sri Lanka reached
their target with nine deliveries to spare following half centuries from
Mahela Jayawardena and skipper Kumar Sangakkara who was named Man of the
Series.
Cracking form
In fact Sangakkara was in cracking form in this tournament where he
averaged 91.66 including one century and two half centuries. The other
reason for Sri Lanka's success was that their entire top order was among
the runs with Mahela Jayawardena, Upul Tharanga, Tillekeratne Dilshan
and Thilan Samaraweera all scoring a century each.
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Tillekeratne Dilshan |
In the bowling department it was the two newcomers-paceman Thisara
Perera and spinner Suraj Randiv who did most of the damage while
maintaining an economy rate of well under five runs per over.
Sri Lanka then experienced mixed fortunes in the ICC Twenty20 World
Cup where they came up to the semi-final stage onwards before going down
to the eventual champions England by seven wickets.
Encouraging
Despite their exit from the semi-finals this was quite an encouraging
performance considering the fact that they had lost their opening group
'B' match of the tournament against New Zealand by two wickets.
But thereafter Sri Lanka really fought their way to register some
fantastic victories and reach the last four with a nail biting last ball
five wicket win over India at Gros Islet.
Sri Lanka needed three runs from the last ball and middle order
batsman Chamara Kapugedera rose to the occasion by hoisting Ashish Nehra
for a six and seal the game for his team.
Among the other players Mahela Jayawardena was outstanding with a
total of 302 runs from six outings and his average of 60.40 and strike
rate of 199.78 was really amazing.
Convincing
This was followed by a historic Twenty20 International series against
New Zealand in the United States of America. After having conceded the
opening match by 28 runs Sri Lanka came back well to pull off a
convincing seven wicket win in the second match and to draw the series
one all.
Sri Lanka then took wing to Zimbabwe with a new look combination and
under the captaincy of dashing opener Tillekeratne Dilshan. The team
certainly performed beyond expectations and they lifted the Tri Series
Trophy with a nine wicket win over the hosts in the final. Skipper
Dilshan led the way with a smashing unbeaten one hundred that helped him
to win the Man of the Match award.
Altogether he accumulated a total of 328 runs at an average of 109.33
inclusive of one hundred and three fifties. Among the new comers Dinesh
Chandimal also hammered a century while spinners Suraj Randiv and Jeewan
Mendis excelled with the ball.
Back at home Sri Lanka surrendered the Asia Cup while going down to
India by 81 runs in the final at Dambulla. Until then they were unbeaten
throughout the tournament having earlier defeated India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh quite convincingly. But when it came into the final Sri Lanka
lost the vital toss and with that their chances of retaining the title
also disappeared as the Indians piled up a formidable 268 for 6 from
their 50 overs.
This series also marked the return of dynamic all rounder Farveez
Maharoof who took a five wicket haul including a rare hat-trick during a
preliminary round game against India.
Tri series
Sri Lanka then avenged their Asia Cup defeat by winning the Tri
Series tournament over India and New Zealand at Dambulla. The Lankans
rallied around through a fine century from Tillekeratne Dilshan to post
a challenging 299 for 8 and dismissed the Indians for 225 runs.
Sri Lanka also had the honour of winning their first ever series down
under when they triumphed 2-1 against Australia in a three match
contest. The manner in which they performed their task was really
outstanding.
The first one day international will always be remembered by two
players Angelo Mathews and Lasith Malinga for their brave batting
performance where they added a record 132 runs for the ninth wicket.
How Sri Lanka fared in the year 2010
Triangular series in Bangladesh:
Beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets in Dhaka, beat India by 5 wickets in
Dhaka, Beat Bangladesh by 9 wickets in Dhaka, Lost to India by 8 wickets
in Dhaka, (final) beat India by 4 wickets in Dhaka.
ICC Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies:
Lost to New Zealand by 2 wickets at Providence, beat Zimbabwe by 14
runs on Duckworth and Lewis scoring method at Providence, beat West
Indies by 57 runs at Bridgetown, lost to Australia by 81 runs at
Bridgetown, beat India by 5 wickets at Gros Islet, (semi-final) lost to
England by 7 wickets at Gros Islet.
Twenty20 Series in USA:
Lost to New Zealand by 28 runs at Lauderhill, beat New Zealand by 7
wickets at Lauderhill.
Tri Series in Zimbabwe:
Lost to India by 7 wickets at Bulawayo, beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets at
Bulawayo, beat India by 6 wickets at Harare, lost to Zimbabwe by 8
wickets at Harare, (final) beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets at Harare.
Asia Cup tournament in Sri Lanka:
Beat Pakistan by 16 runs at Dambulla, beat Bangladesh by 126 runs at
Dambulla, beat India by 7 wickets at Dambulla, (final) lost to India by
81 runs at Dambulla.
Test Series against India:
Beat India by 10 wickets at the Galle International Stadium, drew
with India at the SSC ground, lost to India by 5 wickets at the P.
Saravanamuttu Oval.
Triangular Series in Sri Lanka:
Beat New Zealand by 3 wickets at Dambulla, lost to India by 6 wickets
at Dambulla, no result against New Zealand, beat India by 8 wickets,
(final): beat India by 74 runs at Dambulla.
Sri Lanka in Australia Twenty20 match and one day
series:
Beat Australia by 7 wickets at Perth, beat Australia by 1 wicket at
Melbourne, beat Australia by 29 runs on Duckworth and Lewis scoring
method, lost to Australia by 8 wickets at Brisbane.
Test series against West Indies:
Drew with West Indies at the Galle International Stadium, drew with
West Indies at R. Premadasa Stadium, drew with West Indies at Pallekele
International Cricket Stadium.
Hong Kong sixes:
Beat New Zealand by 3 runs at Kowloon, beat Pakistan by 5 wickets at
Kowloon, beat India by 17 runs at Kowloon, (semi-final) lost to
Australia by 1 run at Kowloon.
Asian Games in China:
Beat Nepal by 2 wickets at Guangzhou, (semi-final) lost to Bangladesh
by 5 wickets at Guangzhou, (3rd place play off) lost to Pakistan by 6
wickets at Guangzhou.
Most wickets for Sri Lanka in Test matches 2010 (top 5):
Player Mat WktsAve
A Mendis 5 17 38.23
S Randiv 3 14 40.50
L Malinga 2 10 27.30
M Muralitharan 1 8 23.87
R Herath 3 8 31.50
Most wickets for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals 2010 (top 5):
Player Mat Wkts Ave
L Malinga 9 11 20.72
A Mendis 7 8 20.62
S Randiv 6 7 16.42
A Mathews 9 6 20.33
N Kulasekara 3 5 10.60
Most runs for Sri Lanka in Test matches 2010 (top 5):
Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave
K Sangakkara 6 9 2 695 219 99.28
T Samaraweera 6 8 4 457 137* 114.25
T Paranavitana 6 10 2 433 111 54.12
M Jayawardene 6 8 0 407 174 50.87
T Dilshan 6 10 1 299 68* 33.22
Most runs for Sri Lanka in Twenty20 Internationals 2010 (top 5):
Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS e
M Jayawardene 9 9 1 343 100 42.87
K Sangakkara 9 9 1 205 68 25.62
T Dilshan 9 9 2 151 41 21.57
A Mathews 9 7 1 146 58 24.33
C Kapugedera 9 7 1 102 37* 17.00
Most runs for Sri Lanka in one day internationals 2010 (top 5)
Player Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave
T Dilshan 20 20 2 921 110 51.16
K Sangakkara 17 17 2 726 74 48.40
U Tharanga 22 22 3 707 118* 37.21
M Jayawardene 15 15 3 509 108 42.41
T Samaraweera 13 10 4 296 105* 49.33
Most wickets for Sri Lanka in one day internationals 2010 (top 5):
Player Mat Wkts Ave
T Perera 13 22 18.90
L Malinga 11 18 20.50
N Kulasekara 17 18 33.55
S Randiv 17 17 35.05
A Mathews 14 10 24.10 |
