Mahela will be remembered with gratitude

With Mahela Jayewardene confirming his retirement as captain of the Sri Lanka team at the end of the series against Australia,out will go a star that shone brightly in the cricketing firmament for a near two decades. The firmament was not only in Sri Lanka but the world over. He was exemplary, disciplined and above all a gentleman and a cricketer of our times whose legendary status will not be easily matched.From the time he made it to the Sri Lanka team as a replacement to South Africa under the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga, and once he was given his cap, he has proudly walked the field at home and abroad like a colossus.

After a successful run with the bat where he scored tons of runs, the captaincy of Sri Lanka team, which is the dream of every cricketer, was not long in coming. And once he adorned it, he sported the crown on his head like a cricketing king with honour and pride. He has 31 centuries and over 10,000 runs in both forms of the game. But his crowning moment was when he made the highest individual score of 374 against South Africa in a Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club. In that Test, he was involved in a record 624 for the third wicket with his good friend and team mate Kumar Sangakkara who made 285. The South Africans who are now the number one Test team in the world will never forget the chasing of leather in that Test. As a captain he was a shining example to all. With a shrewd cricketing brain he led with great aplomb, never ever getting into controversy, always playing a straight bat as he did when he was at the wicket, spraying the ball-and his inspiring spirit- to all corners of the field and over it with elegance and precision. Since taking over the leadership, he led Sri Lanka to many a victory and he was the most successful Sri Lankan captain. That he led Sri Lanka to two World Cups - the 2007 World Cup final in the Caribbean in 2007 and the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2011 and could not win it was just bad luck.

Drop in batting form

A sudden drop in batting form saw his critics and some of his frustrated teammates go on a vicious campaign calling for his head. With cricketing officials of that time refusing to back him up, not wanting to cling on to the captaincy, he said to hell with it and quit most gracefully. Wicketkeeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara the captain in waiting took over and when he resigned after the 2011 World Cup, opening batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan was handed over the unenviable job. With Sri Lanka cricket in the wilderness and lost with no success to crow about, the pressure was on for Dilshan to quit the job. With no way out, cricket officials went on bended knee to Jayewardene asking him to make a comeback.

He could well have asked them to go and get lost . But being the conscientious and patriotic cricketer that he was, he realized the plight that the game was in, Jayewardene answered the call, but made it a point to come back on his terms.

Resuscitated game

He breathed life back into the game again and resuscitated it and today Sri Lankan cricket is once again a game to be reckoned with, with victories coming and opponents fearing and respecting it once again. Having done his job to perfection, Jayewardene announced his quitting here in Hobart where the First of Three Tests against Australia was being played and everyone is asking WHY? And we may ask, why not? With two more Test matches against Australia in Melbourne on Boxing Day and another in Sydney, he would love to have the first ever Test win against Australia in Australia under his champion belt. But that is left to be seen.

In his colourful career it will be the first time that he will be playing a Test at the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground and in addition to looking for not only a historic triumph, but would love to leave his mark perhaps with a big hundred, a double hundred or a triple hundred. The days of cricketing miracles are still not over. He could be best described as god's gift to the game.

Remember and treasure

One knock he will always remember and treasure is the century he made in the 2011 World Cup final against India in India in a final that Sri Lanka lost that shook the cricket world.

When a team wins, the credit is showered on the team. When the team loses, the entire blame is slapped on the captain. Jayewardene has suffered fools and would have been singing that perennial from Frank Sinatra - I took it all ...., but did it... 'MY WAY'.

But Jayewardene will not be lost to the game. He will continue to play and do his best and also show heir apparent Angelo Mathews the nuances of what captaincy is all about and how to front up to the trials and tribulations and stand tall and move on. We wish MAHELA JAYEWARDENE WELL.

Matthews in the hot seat

But while Angelo Mathews is captain in waiting recommended by Mahela Jayewardene, the selectors have to meet and appoint Angelo Mathews. It is said that there can be many a slip between the cup and the lip. Mathews, if and when he is given the onerous job, must keep performing with both bat and ball as an all rounder. With many other eyeing the captaincy, failure in anyone of the departments could find his neck on the block.

Mathews will do well to remember that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. He must be aware of those wolves in sheep clothing and while suffering fools, must stand upright and perform for game and country.

First Joe SL Captain

Mathews becomes the first from St. Joseph's College to captain a Sri Lanka cricket team which is a great honour to the Darley Road School.

SJC has produced some outstanding cricketers during the pre and post Test era.

In the present Sri Lanka team there are two Josephians in Thisara Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne. Perera is now playing in the Big Bash and will join the SL team for the One-day and Twenty20 Internationals. Karunaratne is a good find. He has good technique, temperament and strokes all round the wicket and with a bit more experience should cement the opener's slot in the team. Some of the outstanding cricketers produced by the Darley Road school who come to mind are Fairlie Dalpathado, Hector Perera, Priya Perera, Raja and his brother Mahinda de Silva, Ralph and Milroy Brohier, Yasa Ratnayake, Abid Moosajee, Ranjit Malawana, Placidus Liyanage, Keerthi Caldera, Kenneth Serpanchy, Rohan Wijesinghe jnr and Brian 'Bumper' Perumal.

A $ 25,000 for a dinner

When a Sri Lanka team tours any country, it is the norm for the High Commissioners, Ambassadors and Sri Lankan Associations in the countries to host the cricketers to dinners, dances and felicitations. It is no different here in Australia with Mahela Jayewardene's touring cricketers. But this is startling and shocking: Believe it or not the Sri Lankans in Adelaide had planned to host the cricketers to dinner.When the usual approval was asked for from Sri Lanka Cricket they had, it is said, demanded for A $ 25,000. Now this is inexplicable and unacceptable. The Sri Lankans in Adelaide are disappointed and fuming.

Maybe that Sri Lanka Cricket that is struggling to survive financially would have wanted the A$ 25,000 to fill its depleted coffers. A dinner is being organized in Melbourne and the proceeds of that will go to a Foundation.

Bellerive Oval Media Box

When foreign journalists covering the cricket for their respective newspapers and agencies visit the Media Box that is at the Sinhalese Sports Club, they grumble and curse saying that it is time a lift was installed at the venue. But the Media Box at the Bellerive Oval is worse. Journalists have to climb nearly 80 steps to get to their seats. As to why the home journalists are not complaining and demanding the installation of a lift is perplexing.

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