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| Sunday, 12 May 2002 |
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Glorious
tributes to Sanath in British press
by Reggie Fernando our London Cor. Almost on the eve of Sri Lanka's first Test (May 16) against England at the Mecca of Cricket Lords, skipper Sanath Jayasuriya received showers of colourful compliments and glorious tributes of unprecedented volumes in the British press last weekend. Two of the most prestigious and widely circulated weekend broadsheets The Sunday Times and The Independent on Sunday carried full page features on jayasuriya with generous quarter page spreads of photographs in cricket gear with bat in hand, bowling and batting. The Sunday Times headlined the piece 'Jayasuriya out to play leading role' while the Independent of Sunday sold 'The gentlest of men, the most violent of batsmen.' Speaking of the last series back in Sri Lanka Jayasuriya "We do not want trouble. I am never controversial. We had a few problems but it's in the past. It's finished. There won;t be any problems now, because of neutral umpires. We get used to appealing because when Murali bowls, with every ball he looks like taking a wicket. Sometimes the closer fielders shout and then stop. That's where the problem started." The articles state that Sri Lanka is assembling a formidable record and takes on England having won their past nine Tests bettered only by Australia with sixteen victories in 1999/2001 and the West Indies with 11 wins in 1984. One paper talks about Jayasuriya's invention of a new form of batting Pinch hitting, otherwise known as educated slogging by the openers, which revolutionised the one-day game, helped it to grow up, left spectators with no option but to take notice. "The fashion duplicated all over the world. There have been some splendid copies, but nothing could ever erase the bravado and skill of Jayasuriya the dashing left-handing who developed the prototype. It is some legacy to be leaving behind:" On his new style of captaincy the paper says that Jayasuriya appears to be guided by consensus and quotes coach Dav Whatmore: "You often see small conferences that go on mid-pitch quickly. It's the democratic captain coming out. Seems to get the decision fairly right most of the time." The papers explain Jayasuriya's religious side stating: "The air of tranquillity he exudes is probably derived from his religion which has been around Sri Lanka for 2500 years. This devout Buddhist's softly-spoken character belies the ferocity of his batsmanship, but his approach to leadership has been cleverly constructed. Jayasuriya observes his religion every day. "I am a religious man. It helped me a lot. It's mentally relaxing, I say my prayers twice a day in the morning and evenings and my meditation. I was brought up a Buddhist and remain very religious. What ever you do, you need to relax before a match, whether through religion or whatever. Most of our players are religious. But when I am batting, I concentrate only on what the bowler is going to do." Jayasuriya says that coach Dav Whatmore with whom he has cultivated an effective partnership and himself should provide the lead to the other players: "The whole team is looking at the captain. I have the responsibility." On a more sombre note, the papers state that religion is a force for unity not division and that Buddhists co-exist with Tamils, of whom Murali is the most prominent and quotes Jayasuriya as saying: "When its cricket, there is no politics in Sri Lanka. They all support the team. There's no Tamil or Sinhalese. They are all for Sri Lanka." |
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