ROSHAN MAHANAMA

Roshan Siriwardene Mahanama (born 31 May 1966 in Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and currently an ICC match referee.

Although he averaged less than 30 at Test cricket, he did score four centuries, including a top score of 225 for the Sri Lankan cricket team against India at Colombo, where he shared a then world record second wicket partnership of 576 runs with Sanath Jayasuriya. This record was surpassed in July 2006 as the largest partnership in Test match history by fellow Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who put on 624 against South Africa.

Roshan Mahanama was the stylish batsman in Sri Lankan cricket side. He established himself as stylish opening batsman in late 80's & early 90's. In W.C. 1992, Roshan Mahanama performed as opening batsman along with M.A.R. Samarasekera & U.C. Hathurusingha. During the captaincy of Aravinda de silva in early 90's, Roshan Mahanama was a consistent opening batsman. In W.C. 1992, Roshan Mahanama scored: 59 runs off 89 balls v.s. Zimbabwe, 80 runs off 131 balls v.s. New Zealand & 68 runs off 121 balls v.s. South Africa. During 1995/96, whenever Roshan Mahanama gets out, Aravinda de Silva gets out easily.

Roshan is the 36th Sri Lanka Test Cap [Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan at Colombo 1985/86].

'Retired hurt' is common parlance in cricket, but that is the name former Sri Lankan cricketer Roshan Mahanama chose for his biography, reflecting his feelings after he was not considered for selection in the One-dayers and Tests, following the team's disastrous showing in the 1999 World Cup.

The authorities told Roshan that he was dropped to groom young talent. But then players older than he was found a place, and that hurt the veteran. As a matter of principle and self-respect he decided to retire.

These facts are mentioned in the book 'Retired hurt,' penned by noted Australian sports chronicler Ken Piesse, based on 40 hours of taped narration on Roshan's experience on and off the field.

Roshan Mahanama

Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Full name: Roshan Siriwardene Mahanama

Born: May 31, 1966, Colombo 

Current age :46 years 310 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club, Colombo Cricket Club

Batting style: Right-hand bat

Other: Referee

 

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	52	89	1	2576	225	29.27			4	11	2	56	0
ODIs	213	198	23	5162	119*	29.49	8521	60.57	4	35		109	0
First-class	137	211	18	6698	225	34.70			12	31		136	0
List A	250	235	29	6374	119*	30.94			6	41		120	0

 
Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	52	2	36	30	0	-	-	-	5.00	-	0	0	0
ODIs	213	2	2	7	0	-	-	-	21.00	-	0	0	0
First-class	137		36	30	0	-	-	-	5.00	-	0	0	0
List A	250		2	7	0	-	-	-	21.00	-	0	0	0

 
Career statistics
 

Test debut	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (CCC), Mar 14-18, 1986
Last Test	South Africa v Sri Lanka at Centurion, Mar 27-30, 1998
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Kandy, Mar 2, 1986
Last ODI	Kenya v Sri Lanka at Southampton, May 30, 1999
First-class span	1984-1999
List A span	1984-2001

 
ICC match referee statistics
 

Test debut	West Indies v Bangladesh at Gros Islet, May 28-Jun 1, 2004
Last Test	New Zealand v England at Auckland, Mar 22-26, 2013
Test matches	43
ODI debut	West Indies v Bangladesh at Kingstown, May 15, 2004
Last ODI	New Zealand v England at Auckland, Feb 23, 2013
ODI matches	187
T20I debut	Australia v New Zealand at Perth, Dec 11, 2007
Last T20I	New Zealand v England at Wellington, Feb 15, 2013
T20I matches	26

ASANKA GURUSINHA   

Asanka Pradeep Gurusinha (born 16 September 1966 in Colombo) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who enjoyed an 11-year international career, playing 41 Tests and 147 One Day Internationals for Sri Lanka. He was a specialist batsman who helped win the 1996 World Cup final with 65 in a partnership of 125 with the final's Man of the Match, Aravinda de Silva. He studied at Nalanda College Colombo. He now lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Gurusinha was called up at 19 as a wicket-keeper, a role he took in a further two ODIs and one Test. He gradually established himself as a No. 3 batsman, playing 33 Tests and 109 ODIs in that position, and was described by Simon Wilde of Cricinfo as "the rock on which Sri Lankan batting was founded". He was also known for his big stature and wide stance when batting. When he retired in 1996, only Sri Lanka's captain Aravinda de Silva had made more Test hundreds, with eight compared to Gurusinha's seven.

Asanka is the 32nd Sri Lanka Test Cap, making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in 1985/86. He was also a useful part-time bowler, with Michael Atherton, Sunil Gavaskar, Dean Jones, Steve Waugh and Inzamam-ul-Haq among his 20 Test wickets.

Asanka Gurusinha

 Sri Lanka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full name: Asanka Pradeep Gurusinha

Born: September 16, 1966, Colombo

Current age: 46 years 202 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Nondescripts Cricket Club, Sinhalese Sports Club

Batting style: Left-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Fielding position: Wicketkeeper

 

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	41	70	7	2452	143	38.92			7	8	11	33	0
ODIs	147	143	5	3902	117*	28.27	6409	60.88	2	22		49	0
First-class	124	183	19	7169	162	43.71			20	32		89	0
List A	173	169	6	4365	117*	26.77			2	23		56	0

 
Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	41	39	1408	681	20	2/7	4/68	34.05	2.90	70.4	0	0	0
ODIs	147	55	1585	1354	26	2/25	2/25	52.07	5.12	60.9	0	0	0
First-class	124		5142	2298	107	5/54		21.47	2.68	48.0		1	0
List A	173		2035	1676	39	3/36	3/36	42.97	4.94	52.1	0	0	0

 
Career statistics
 

Test debut	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Karachi, Nov 7-11, 1985
Last Test	Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Colombo (SSC), Sep 18-21, 1996
ODI debut	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Hyderabad (Sind), Nov 3, 1985
Last ODI	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Nov 8, 1996
First-class span	1984-1997
List A span	1984-1997

ARAVINDA DE SILVA

Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (Sinhala:පින්නදුවගේ අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා) (born 17 October 1965) is a Sri Lankan former cricketer, who is considered one of the finest batsmen produced by the country. He is also regarded as one of the most elegant batsman in his generation, and to date is the only player to make a hundred and take 3 or more wickets in a world cup final. He was the head of the national selection committee briefly before stepping down after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

 

1.Career

Born in Colombo, de Silva made his Test match debut in 1984 at Lord's against England. During the early part of his career he was known as a dashing but inconsistent batsman - he was given the nickname "Mad Max" for his tendency to get out to rash shots. He later commented on his aggressive batting style: "That's my natural game - I don't want to change because I feel confident playing that way. If someone is capable of dominating the bowling, they should do it. It's the way I've been playing since I was a youngster." But a successful season playing first-class cricket for the English county Kent in 1995 marked a turning point in his career. De Silva was instrumental in Sri Lanka's triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup where his unbeaten century and three wickets earned him the Man of the Match award in the final against Australia. His other notable achievements include scoring a century in each innings of a Test match on two separate occasions (only bettered by India's Sunil Gavaskar and Australia's Ricky Ponting, who each performed this feat three times). One of these doubles was 138 and 105, both undismissed, against Pakistan at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club in April 1997. This made him the first, and so far only, player to score two not out centuries in the same Test match. As he had scored 168 in the second innings of the previous Test, he posted three hundreds in eight days. He finished the year with 1220 runs at 76.25.

De Silva's highest test score of 267 was made at Basin Reserve in 1991 against New Zealand. He scored another double century in his final Test innings as well as picking up a wicket with his final delivery in Test cricket (against Bangladesh in 2002), thus retiring with a place in cricket's history secure - from all international cricket after the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

     County cricket with Kent

Following the Sri Lankan tour of New Zealand De Silva joined the English county side Kent in April 1995 on short notice after Kent's leading batsman of the previous season, Carl Hooper, left to join the West Indies team for the summer. The season proved to be a mix of disappointment and success for Kent, as they finished last (18th) in County Championship with only three wins and four draws out of 17 matches played. Their form in the 40-overs National Cricket League was much better, and they finished on top of the league table with 12 wins, four losses and one abandoned match.In addition, Kent reached the final of Benson & Hedges Cup, where they lost to Lancashire by 35 runs despite de Silva's 112 runs. Personally for de Silva, the time spent with Kent marked the turning point in his career. He was the third most prolific batsman of the County Championship in 1995 after Mark Ramprakash and Nasser Hussain with 1661 runs at an average of 59.32 and six centuries including the highest score of the season, 255. He was also often called to perform as fifth or sixth bowler, a role where he proved to be relatively economic but inefficient wicket-taker.

     1996 World Cup

De Silva did not play in Kent's two last County Championship matches having left to join the Sri Lankan squad on their tour of Pakistan. Sri Lanka had embarrassingly lost a first-class match against Pakistan Cricket Board Patron's XI and the following first Test against Pakistan both by an innings. He joined the team only few days before the second Test and was dismissed for a duck in the first innings; however, in Sri Lanka's second innings his third wicket stand of 176 runs with Chandika Hathurusingha helped to win the Test for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka went on to win the third Test and clinch the Test series against Pakistan 2–1. Sri Lanka also proved victorious with the same numbers in the subsequent three-match ODI-series against Pakistan, where de Silva was Sri Lanka's leading wicket-taker with five wickets at an average of 17.80.

In the three-nation Champions Trophy tournament in Sharjah in October 1995 with Pakistan and West Indies each team ended up with two wins and two losses in the preliminary round-robin stage, and West Indies and Sri Lanka were selected to play in the final due to their higher run rates. In the final Sri Lanka proved victorious by 50 runs. De Silva ended up with a modest 117 runs at an average of 29.25 in five matches. His batting form slumped lower in the three-test Series in Australia, where the Sri Lankan batsmen struggled with the bowling of Glenn McGrath, who took 21 wickets while de Silva managed 98 runs at an average of 16.33. In the third test he acted as captain after the regular captain Arjuna Ranatunga pulled out due to finger injury. The series was shrouded in controversy, as in the first Test Sri Lanka was first found guilty of ball-tampering only to be exonerated later by International Cricket Council, while in the second Test the Australian umpire Darrell Hair no-balled Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan seven times in just three overs for throwing. Concurrently with the Test series Sri Lanka also participated in three-nation ODI series with Australia and West Indies. In the seventh match of the tournament against West Indies Muralitharan was again called for throwing and did not play again in the ODI series. The tournament was won by Australia, who beat Sri Lanka in both final matches, confirming their favourite position in the forthcoming ICC World Cup in the Indian sub-continent. In the absence of Ranatunga, de Silva captained Sri Lanka in the ODI tournament until Ranatunga returned in the later stages and finished the series as Sri Lanka's top batsman with 258 runs at an average of 25.80.

In 1996 World Cup, Sri Lanka, who hosted the cup together with India and Pakistan, played only three games in the preliminary rounds as both West Indies and Australia forfeited their matches in Colombo due to security reasons. Neither Zimbabwe nor Kenya were able to truly test Sri Lanka team – in both matches de Silva was selected man-of-the-match following his 91 and 145 runs with bat. De Silva's 145 from 115 balls against Kenya was the highest ever score for Sri Lanka in ODIs, and the third highest in 1996 World Cup. India proved a stronger opponent, but despite Sachin Tendulkar's 137 runs, Sri Lanka cruised to a comfortable six wicket victory.

In the quarter-finals Sri Lanka defeated England by five wickets, the first time they had ever beaten England outside Sri Lanka. Their semi-final opponent was India, which had beaten Pakistan in their quarter-final match. Winning the toss at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, India selected to field and had a very good start with Javagal Srinath dispatching the Sri Lankan opening pair for only one run. Coming in at number four, de Silva lead the Sri Lankan recovery hitting 66 runs from 47 balls as Sri Lanka set a target of 252 runs for India to chase. His 66 runs does not really stand out in statistics tables, however is regarded as one of his finest innings. In their response, the batsmen of India failed to score with the exception of Tendulkar (65 runs). After India had collapsed to 120 runs for 8 wickets at 34.1 overs, a densely packed home crowd vented their anger by throwing bottles on to the outfield and setting fire to the seating. Eventually the match referee Clive Lloyd had to abandon the game and Sri Lanka won by default.

However, the highlight of his career was almost certainly the 1996 World Cup Final against Australia, where he took 3 wickets for 42 runs (including the Australian captain Mark Taylor and the future captain Ricky Ponting), two catches and then followed that with 107 not out with the bat to secure Sri Lanka a convincing 7 wicket victory, thereby clinching the World Cup, and also the Man of the Match award.His role in the final was recognised by Wisden in 2002 as the eight most significant batting performance in ODI cricket while his bowling was ranked 82nd in Wisden top 100 bowling chart.

On 28 July 2007 he made a one-off appearance for a friend for Dorset county league side Sherborne.
Career Centuries
Main article: List of international cricket centuries by Aravinda de Silva

2.Achievements

     Awards

De Silva was selected one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1996 and one of the five Indian Cricketers of the Year in 1990. The Wisden list of top 100 batting performances contains six entries for him, only one less than the West Indies batsman Viv Richards.

Aravinda de Silva

      

  Sri Lanka

   

 

Full name: Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva

Born: October 17, 1965, Colombo 

Current age: 47 years 171 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Auckland, Kent, Nondescripts Cricket Club

Batting style: Right-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	93	159	11	6361	267	42.97			20	22	48	43	0
ODIs	308	296	30	9284	145	34.90	11443	81.13	11	64		95	0
First-class	220	343	33	15000	267	48.38			43	71		108	0
List A	392	377	44	12095	158*	36.32			17	77		116	0

 
Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	93	58	2595	1208	29	3/30	3/34	41.65	2.79	89.4	0	0	0
ODIs	308	156	5148	4177	106	4/30	4/30	39.40	4.86	48.5	2	0	0
First-class	220		9005	3763	129	7/24		29.17	2.50	69.8		8	1
List A	392		7377	5663	156	4/28	4/28	36.30	4.60	47.2	4	0	0

 
Career statistics
 

Test debut	England v Sri Lanka at Lord's, Aug 23-28, 1984
Last Test	Sri Lanka v Bangladesh at Colombo (PSS), Jul 21-23, 2002
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v New Zealand at Moratuwa, Mar 31, 1984
Last ODI	Australia v Sri Lanka at Port Elizabeth, Mar 18, 2003
First-class span	1983-2002
List A span	1983-2003

                                                                               ARJUNA RANATUNGA

Arjuna Ranatunga (Sinhala:අර්ජුන රණතුංග; born 1 December 1963) is a Sri Lankan politician, former international cricketer and cricket administrator. He served as the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team for much of the 1990s, and the team won the 1996 Cricket World Cup under his leadership. He is the serving member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from Kalutara District.

A specialist left-handed batsman and part-time medium pace bowler, Ranatunga's career with the Sri Lankan national team began in 1983, when Sri Lanka were relative newcomers to international cricket and did not perform well against the well-established teams. He became an important player in the middle order of Sri Lanka's batting. Under Ranatunga's captaincy, Sri Lanka began to play more aggressively in both ODI and Test cricket the mid-'90s. Their growing success rate culminated with a dominating performance and triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Although some of his actions caused some controversy, Ranatunga was praised for his leadership in raising a team long regarded as underdogs to the status of world champions.

Upon retirement from playing cricket, Ranatunga became influential in the administration of cricket in Sri Lanka and entered politics, joining the People's Alliance and winning election to the Sri Lankan parliament. He served a tenure as deputy minister for tourism, and later served as the president of Sri Lanka Cricket until December 2008.He joined the Democratic National Alliance in 2010.
Contents

  


1. Early days

Ranatunga comes from Gampaha, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher. Arjuna's cricketing career started and was carefully nurtured at school. He played cricket for both the junior and senior teams and captained the Ananda College senior team for two years.

2.First-class and Test debuts

A left-handed batsman and useful right arm medium pace bowler, he made his first-class debut in 1981 at the age of eighteen and a year later played in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match. He went on to score Sri Lanka's first half century in this game. Also, he is the only player in the history of cricket, who played a country's first test and the 100th test.

3.Sri Lankan captaincy

Ranatunga went on to captain Sri Lanka in 1988, taking control of the national team for the next 11 years, transforming it from a weak, routinely defeated team into a competitive and successful unit. He was widely recognised as a belligerent leader and was famous for defending his players at all costs regardless of what they did.[citation needed]

4.Controversies

     Fitness

Ranatunga's weight was also notable for being grossly excessive, and gave rise to an incident during a game played in humid conditions when he called for a runner, claiming that he had "sprained something"; opposition (Australian) wicket-keeper Ian Healy responded that he could not get a runner for being "an overweight, unfit, fat cunt", a comment picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast on television. Ranatunga was known for controversially calling a runner during long innings due to his level of fitness, which allowed him to get a lot more runs for his shots, as he was a very slow runner; apart from boundaries, he usually walked singles or jogged slowly for two or three runs even if the ball almost went to the boundary. After the second final of the One Day triangular series in Australia in the 1995/6 season, when the incident with Healy occurred, Ranatunga instructed his players not to shake the Australian players' hands. During this match, Sanath Jayasuriya and Australian paceman Glenn McGrath were also involved in physical jostling; Jayasuriya accused McGrath of racially abusing him, a claim that the bowler denied.

     Defence of Muralitharan

Ranatunga is also remembered for his stand in a One Day International against England. Australian Umpire Ross Emerson called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing. (Muralitharan was subsequently cleared by bio-mechanical experts hired by the ICC) Ranatunga exchanged heated words with umpire Emerson and led his team to a point just inside the boundary line, halting play and giving the impression that he was about to forfeit the match, until the Sri Lankan management conferred with him and play resumed. English captain, Alec Stewart, was openly critical of Ranatunga's behaviour. In a comment caught on the stump microphone he was heard to say to Ranatunga "Your conduct today has been appalling for a country's captain". The match was bad-tempered, with instances of shoulder-bumping.

     Wrangles with Warne

He is noted also for his repeated intense criticism of the Australian team, especially his long-standing rivalry with Shane Warne. While this saw him a maligned figure among the Australian public, who ridiculed his brinkmanship, his ability to lead the long-standing minnows of world cricket to a World Cup win, over Australia in the final, is arguably one of the greatest displays of captaincy in the history of cricket. Australia was renowned for intimidating its opponents, and Ranatunga's ability to take on and rattle the team of renowned sledgers inspired his players to stand up to them in an era in which few other sides could.

During the 1996 World Cup, Ranatunga claimed that Warne was overrated, and during the final, Warne misexecuted a flipper, which turned into a full toss. Ranatunga pulled it over the boundary for the six and then stuck his tongue out at Warne. During the 1999 World Cup, Warne wrote a column calling Ranatunga a "disgrace". The Sri Lankan shot back by referring to his country's cultural heritage and then mocking Australia over convict settlement.

In 2005, Warne mocked Ranatunga's rotund figure, which had become more ample since his retirement, suggesting that he had swallowed a sheep.

There has always been between Warne and Ranatunga a grudging mutual admiration. When the former visited Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami to aid Muralitharan in his "great work"there, he developed an amiable rapport with his long-time foe: "We even wagged," he confirmed later.Not long after, however, Ranatunga was lambasting him in a scathing newspaper attack.

"You can't be mates with everyone," Warne wrote in his 2008 book Shane Warne's Century, serialised by The Times in September, "and if there was any way I could knock him down to number 101 for the purposes of this book, I'd be delighted to do so. But having taken on the task, I want to do it seriously, and the fact is that Ranatunga helped to put Sri Lanka on the cricket map. And you know what? Deep down, I'll quietly admit that I rated him as a cricketer."


 5.1996 World Cup

The Sri Lankan national team were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka defeated tournament favourites Australia to win it under the captaincy of Ranatunga. This victory, for which Ranatunga was a pivotal part both as batsman and captain, started a new era of Sri Lankan competitiveness on the global stage; they had previously never passed the group stage of a world cup.
Final cricketing days

Ranatunga lost the national team captaincy in 1999 after Sri Lanka's poor showing at the World Cup in England, although he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for that year. He retired from playing cricket in 2001.

6.After cricket politics

He entered into politics by joining the PA led by Chandrika Kumaratunga. Later, he was the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka. In 2010, Ranatunga left PA and joined DNA endorsing[9] Presidential Candidate Sarath Fonseka. After a rift with party leader Fonseka, on September 2012, he resigned from the party.

7.Career highlights

     Tests

Test debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981–1982
Last Test: vs South Africa, Colombo, 2000–2001

    Ranatunga's highest Test batting score of 135 not out was made against Pakistan, Colombo, 1985–1986
    His best Test bowling effort of 2 for 17 came against New Zealand, Kandy, 1983–1984
    Ranatunga's captaincy record was as follows: 56 matches, 12 wins, 19 losses, 25 draws.

     One-day Internationals

ODI Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981–1982
Last ODI: vs Kenya, Southampton, 1999 World Cup

    His highest ODI batting score of 131 not out was made against India, Colombo, 1997
    Ranatunga's best bowling figures of 4 for 14 came against India at Kanpur in 1986–1987
    His captaincy record was as follows: 193 matches, 89 wins, 95 losses, 1 tie, 8 no result
    Until New Zealand's Stephen Fleming overtook him in October 2006 at the ICC Champions Trophy,     Ranatunga held the record for captaining the most ODI matches.

Arjuna Ranatunga

 

Sri Lanka

 

 

Full name: Arjuna Ranatunga 

Born: December 1, 1963, Colombo

Current age: 49 years 126 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Sinhalese Sports Club

Batting style: Left-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Batting and fielding averages
 

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	93	155	12	5105	135*	35.69			4	38	40	47	0
ODIs	269	255	47	7456	131*	35.84	9571	77.90	4	49		63	0
First-class	205	295	32	11641	238*	44.26			25	63		108	0
List A	307	290	53	8491	131*	35.82			4	55		78	0

 

Bowling averages
 

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	93	56	2373	1040	16	2/17	2/20	65.00	2.62	148.3	0	0	0
ODIs	269	135	4710	3757	79	4/14	4/14	47.55	4.78	59.6	1	0	0
First-class	205		7096	3085	94	5/45		32.81	2.60	75.4		2	0
List A	307		5338	4255	98	4/14	4/14	43.41	4.78	54.4	2	0	0

 

Career statistics

Test debut	Sri Lanka v England at Colombo (PSS), Feb 17-21, 1982
Last Test	Sri Lanka v South Africa at Colombo (SSC), Aug 6-10, 2000
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v England at Colombo (SSC), Feb 14, 1982
Last ODI	Kenya v Sri Lanka at Southampton, May 30, 1999
First-class span	1981-2001
List A span	1981-2001

Mahela Jayawardena

                                                               MAHELA JAYAWARDENA                  

Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene (Sinhala:දෙනගමගේ ප්‍රබොත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977), known as Mahela Jayawardene, is a former captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist batsman.

Jayawardene made his Test debut in 1997 and his One Day International (ODI) debut the following season. In 2006 he made the highest ever score by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket, scoring 374 in the second Test of Sri Lanka's home series against South Africa. He has a Test average of over 50 and an ODI average in the 30s. He is the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10,000 Test runs. Despite his relatively low ODI average, Jayawardene is considered to be one of the best batsmen produced by Sri Lanka and is generally held in high regard as a legend of the modern game along with team-mate Kumar Sangakkara. He is one of only three Sri Lankans—the others being Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara—to have scored more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.

In 2006, Jayawardene was named by the International Cricket Council as the best international captain of the year and he was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year. He is also known for his fielding skills in the inner ring, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's. Statistics also reveal that c Jayawardene b Muralitharan is the most common bowler-fielder combination in the history of Test cricket.

Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to Pakistan for a Test series in March–April 2009. The series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from playing in Pakistan, following the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The first Test ended in a draw. Even though he scored a double century in the first Test, Jayawardene was to resign from captaincy after the second Test in the series. Sri Lanka was in a good position in the Test with Thilan Samaraweera hitting his second successive double hundred of the series and Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a century. On their way to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan players was fired at by 12 masked gunmen. Jayawardene, along with six other Sri Lankan cricketers sustained injuries. Six policemen that guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack. He resigned from vice-captaincy after 2011 world cup defeat. He was appointed as captain again after controversial Tillakaratne Dilshan's captaincy. He was the captain of Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the Indian Premier League. He now plays for Delhi Daredevils as captain.
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1.Career

     Early and domestic career

Jayawardene was educated at one of the leading schools in Sri Lanka, Nalanda College Colombo. At early age Mahela's father, Mr Senerath Jayawardene introduced him to Lionel Mendis Coaching Clinic run by Nondescripts Cricket Club in Cinnamon Gardens. It was there that he learned to play cricket. Mahel captained Nalanda College Colombo first XI cricket team in 1994. He developed his talents through the school cricket team, eventually becoming captain. He was runner-up for the best schoolboy cricketer award during the 1994 cricketing season.

Domestically he has played for Sinhalese Sports Club since 1995. He was signed to play as an overseas player for Derbyshire for the first half of the 2008 English cricket season. However, his commitments to Sri Lanka and involvement in the Indian Premier League prevented him from playing any part in the 2008 county season.

     International career

Mahela Jayawardene is the 69th Sri Lanka Test Cap [Sri Lanka Vs India at Colombo 1997]. Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India at R.P.S., Colombo. Jayawardene added 66 to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 952/6, the highest Test score ever. He was at the crease when the previous highest Test score was surpassed. Early in his career he scored 167 against New Zealand and 242 against India.

Jayawardene's One Day International debut was against Zimbabwe at Premadasa in January 1998. Sri Lanka won the match, with Jayawardene hitting the winning run. In the next game Jayawardene scored 74. It took only 11 matches before he scored his first century, which was against England in the Carlton and United World Series game at Adelaide. Jayawardene entered a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4 in the run chase, but made an innings of 120 runs to win the match. The match is notable for Ross Emerson's no-balling of Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing, which led the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team to the edge of the field and consider walking out of the match, as well as physical shoulder-barging by some players.

Jayawardene was captain during the England tour in 2006 in the absence of Marvan Atapattu. He led his team to 1–1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic whitewash (5–0) in the ODI series.
Jayawardene batting in a Test match for Sri Lanka in 2008

In the first Test of the 2006 Test series against South Africa, Jayawardene shared a world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakkara. This partnership, the highest for any wicket in first-class cricket history, and the first instance of a stand of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings, smashed the previous third wicket stance for Sri Lanka, surpassing 262 which involved himself along with Thilan Samaraweera. It also broke the previous record for the third wicket for all Test playing nations surpassing the 467 run partnership made by the New Zealand's Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones.

Jayawardene became the first Sri-Lankan captain to score a Test triple-century, making 374 off 572 deliveries with 43 fours and 1 six, the fourth highest individual score in Test match cricket and the best by a right-hander. He is also the first batsman to pass 350 in a Test without going on to break the world record. He also surpassed the highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test match, previously Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 in 1997 against India, coincidentally also produced in a world record partnership.

He was also chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2007. In the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Jayawardene hit one century and four half-centuries and was the second highest run-scorer in the list topped by Australia's Matthew Hayden. His century, which came against New Zealand helped Sri Lanka win the Semi-Final. Sri Lanka finished runners-up in the World Cup losing 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.

Mahela is the Recipient of International Cricket Council's "Captain of the Year 2006" inaugural award, Captain of the "World One-Day International Team of the Year 2006", Captain of the "Spirit of Cricket Award 2007" Team, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2007, Record holder for the highest score (374 runs) by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket. He retired from the captaincy due to lack of form and politics in the board.

However, he regained some form during the IPL 2010. Before starting their chase of 201 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders, Jayawardene expressed his desire to open the innings to captain Kumar Sangakara. Sangakkara agreed to his fellow countrymate and Jayawardene scored a blazing 110* off just 59 balls winning them the match in the second last over. Sangakkara, impressed my his teammate set him as opener for the Kings XI Punjab. He scored a few more entertaining knocks in vain including 44 against Rajasthan Royals and 93* against Deccan Chargers. He ended the tournament with an average of 43.90. He was the 6th highest run scorer for the tournament and highest for the Kings XI Punjab.

With Kumar Sangakkara as the Sri Lankan Captain too, Jaywardene was sent as opener for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. In the first match against New Zealand, he scored 81 off just 51 balls. However, this knock went in vain due to the collapse in the Sri Lankan batting line-up after his wicket fell which resulted in a total of only 135 on board batting first. However, in his very next match against Zimbabwe, he scored 100 of just 64 balls helping them win the match helping them win the match defending a total of 173. He thus became the 4th player to get a century in an International Twenty20 Game and the first Sri Lankan to do so. Sri Lanka won the match by D/L method. In the very next match against West Indies, he scored 98* off just 56 balls narrowly missing his second century in a row. This became his third consecutive score above 80.

During the second Test of Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa in 2011–12, Jayawardene became the ninth player in cricket history, and the first Sri Lankan, to score 10,000 Test runs. At the end of the tour he was reappointed as Sri Lanka's captain, following the resignation of Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to the final of the 2012 World Twenty20 against West Indies on home turf. Having restricted the Windies to 137/6, Sri Lanka were steadily making progress in chasing down the target with Jayawardene well set. Halfway through their innings, captain Jayawardene noticed that the West Indies were slightly ahead on Duckworth/Lewis with a hint of rain in the air. He subsequently panicked and triggered a collapse as the rain never came and Sri Lanka fell a long way short of the target. He resigned as Sri Lanka's T20 captain after the match.

He has 22 centuries in Sri Lanka.


     Personal life

Mahela was born to Sunila and Senerath Jayawardene at Colombo in 1977. He had one younger brother, Dhishal who died of a brain tumour, aged 16. This affected Jayawardene psychologically, halting his cricket career for some time. Eventually he was persuaded to go on and set about rebuilding his career by his parents and teammates.

He is married to Christina Mallika Sirisena, a travel consultant.

Off the field, he has won praise for his personal contribution to the HOPE cancer project.[9] With memories of Dhishal in mind, he became the leading campaigner of HOPE. Now, with the support of his team-mates, he aims to build a new 750-bed cancer unit at Maharagama, the country's only dedicated cancer hospital.
Player statistics

Mahela Jayawardene     

Sri Lanka

Full name: Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene

Born: May 27, 1977, Colombo

Current age: 35 years 314 days

Major teams: Sri Lanka, Asia XI, Asia XI,Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab,Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Sinhalese Sports Club,Wayamba

Playing role: Batsman

Batting style: Right-hand bat

Bowling style: Right-arm medium

Batting and fielding averages

Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	138	232	14	10806	374	49.56	20977	51.51	31	45	1281	53	194	0
ODIs	391	365	37	10892	144	33.20	13921	78.24	15	68	938	63	195	0
T20Is	46	46	7	1293	100	33.15	970	133.29	1	8	145	30	14	0
First-class	223	359	23	16648	374	49.54			48	73			292	0
List A	476	443	48	13095	163*	33.15			16	82			236	0
Twenty20	142	137	23	3519	110*	30.86	2666	131.99	2	24	397	85	58	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	138	21	553	297	6	2/32	2/32	49.50	3.22	92.1	0	0	0
ODIs	391	27	582	558	7	2/56	2/56	79.71	5.75	83.1	0	0	0
T20Is	46	1	6	8	0	-	-	-	8.00	-	0	0	0
First-class	223		2965	1616	52	5/72		31.07	3.27	57.0		1	0
List A	476		1269	1141	23	3/25	3/25	49.60	5.39	55.1	0	0	0
Twenty20	142	4	69	82	3	2/22	2/22	27.33	7.13	23.0	0	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	Sri Lanka v India at Colombo (RPS), Aug 2-6, 1997
Last Test	Australia v Sri Lanka at Sydney, Jan 3-6, 2013
ODI debut	Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Colombo (RPS), Jan 24, 1998
Last ODI	Australia v Sri Lanka at Hobart, Jan 23, 2013
T20I debut	England v Sri Lanka at Southampton, Jun 15, 2006
Last T20I	Australia v Sri Lanka at Melbourne, Jan 28, 2013
First-class debut	1995/96
Last First-class	Sinhalese Sports Club v Nondescripts Cricket Club at Colombo (SSC), Feb 15-17, 2013
List A debut	1995/96
Last List A	Australia v Sri Lanka at Hobart, Jan 23, 2013
Twenty20 debut	Burgher Recreation Club v Sinhalese Sports Club at Colombo (NCC), Aug 17, 2004
Last Twenty20	Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata, Apr 3, 2013