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| Sunday, 16 February 2003 |
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Sanath Jayasuriya a star in the horizon by A. C. DE SILVA 'I Love New Zealand' - Sanath Terrence Jayasuriya, the Sri Lanka cricket captain may think somewhat on those lines to compose a song to remember his cricket deeds against that country. It was Monday, February 10 and the venue was Bloemfontein in South Africa, where Sri Lanka took on New Zealand in the World Cup cricket match. To both teams this was somewhat of a crunch match as victory would give either team a distinct advantage over the other in the run-up to the 'Super Sixes' - the most important segment of the World Cup Cricket Championship. In the opening match, West Indies piloted by a majestic century by Brian Lara beat the hosts South Africa by a mere three runs and in the second group 'B' match on Monday had Sri Lanka up against New Zealand. To Sri Lanka skipper Jayasuriya, the meeting on the cricket field with the Kiwis, had brought him tremendous happiness and his latest exploit - making 120 blistering runs against them not only helped Sri Lanka to make 272 for seven wickets, but also win the match, getting the Kiwis out for 225 runs. For the Kiwis, there was Scott Styris who made 141 which included six sixes and two fours. It was two left-handers who held centre stage on the first two days - first it was West Indies' mercurial left-hander Brian Lara who started the trend with a match-winning century, launching the tournament in perfect fashion with an enthralling upset win over the highly-rated South Africans at Newslands. Monday saw Sri Lanka's Jayasuriya in all glory in Bloemfontein. Jayasuriya made 120 and set up the stage for Sri Lanka's 272 for 7 wickets in their quota of 50 overs. It was Jayasuriya's 16th one-day hundred and his first in the World Cup after a typically flamboyant innings that featured 14 boundaries and at times a large slice of fortune too. The explosive opener was given the benefit of the doubt to a somewhat confident appeal for a catch behind the wicket by Lou Vincent off Daryl Tuffey when Jayasuriya was on 18 and two dropped catches by wicketkeeper Lou Vincent on 86 and 93 but survived those nervous moments to punish the Kiwis no end. Sanath will remember the New Zealanders for a long, long time. He made 'Test' debut against them in 1990-91 series in Hamilton, scored his maiden 'ton' (140) in one-day Internationals also against them in Bloemfontein which was the highest for Sri Lanka in one-day cricket for quite a while until Aravinda de Silva made 145 against Kenya in Kandy in Wills World Cup in 1995-96 which also enabled Jayasuriya to pass the 1,000 runs in one-day cricket, playing in his 70th match (64 innings). A problem The Sri Lankan captain had somewhat of a problem earlier on a dislocation of the shoulder in the Morocco Cup final in August last year, but quick work by Australia's Sri Lanka friendly doctor Quintus de Zylva had somewhat put things right, but the genial doctor has said: "Surgery is a must - it's up to Jayasuriya when he wants it done." Dr. Quintus de Zylva is a leading figure in the Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation of Victoria and he has promised all assistance - truly a great doctor. So as things stand, Sri Lanka will be fortunate enough to see more of Jayasuriya's exploits, be it in the shorter version of the game or in 'Tests'. Natural talent has to get its due place someday - so the saying goes. This is particularly so in the case of Sanath Jayasuriya, who hails not from an influential school, but from the Southern Province - Matara where he was a leading figure in cricket at St. Servatius' College. His exploits in inter-school cricket will fill a book, but unlike today where inter-school cricket is spread far and wide with the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket and Scorers Association arranging matches for schools that are members of the association. Though there was a Schools Cricket Association in the eighties, the schools in deep South didn't get much of a look-in and the schools in Matara district had to play matches against the lesser known schools and they didn't get the opportunity of matching their wits against the better known schools. Jayasuriya, born on June 30th 1969, became the first cricketer from St. Servatius' College, Matara to be picked to represent a national side when he went on that tour of Australia with the under 19 side in 1987/88 and the second tour was in 1988/89 with the Sri Lanka 'B' team to Pakistan. It was great that Jayasuriya showed his batting skills in no uncertain manner, even though he hailed from a school that had only a matting wicket. Talent The fact that he made several centuries here and also abroad even at the under 19 and under 20 age group, clearly showed that there was talent in the boy. He was the first Sri Lankan to score two successive double centuries in two unofficial 'Tests' against Pakistan in the 1988/89 tour and Pakistan teams were by no means chicken feed for the Sri Lankans as the Pakistanis had Test players like Iqbal Qasim, Ijaj, Manzoor Elahi, Iqbal Sikkander. In the epoch-making tour of Pakistan, Jayasuriya began with 102 in the opening three-day game in Karachi which was his debut match in first class cricket and followed it up with two double-century knocks - 203 not out in Lahore and 207 not out in Karachi. These were truly remarkable knocks and I can vouch for them as I was fortunate enough to be on the spot at the two grounds. Gul Hameed Bhatti - the Editor of "The Pakistan Cricketer" in its 18th edition had this to say of Sanath: "Jayasuriya has taken Pakistan cricket by storm and Jayasuriya was featured on the cover page of that magazine along with star batsman Javed Miandad in the 1989 issue. Later on in the same magazine, Bhatti went on to say: "For Sri Lanka 'B', it's Jayasuriya all the way," and added: "We'll be hearing a lot about this youngster in the months to come." Well Bhatti was not wrong, he was absolutely right, and the name of Jayasuriya has not spread far and wide - not only in Asia, but the whole world where the nobel game of cricket is played. Before he arrived in Pakistan, Sanath Jayasuriya was seen in Sri Lanka Youth Team's tour of Australia for the Mc Donald's Bicentennial Youth World Cup competition in February - March 1988. Though he didn't meet with instant success there, being dropped after the first two games, he was however re-introduced into the team in the latter part of the tournament and hit a fine half-century in the final World Cup game against India and continued his good form for the rest of the tour where he scored a attractive century against South Australia Colts team. Jack Potter - the coach of the Australian Youth Team watching Jayasuriya bat, described him as the most exciting batsman during the Youth World Cup. "He plays elegant strokes, a batsman with natural flair who has emerged in the horizon." |
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