Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He is widely regarded as one of the greats of modern cricket due to his masterful technician oozing class of batting, regarded amongst the best batsman against spin, along with his long time team mate and friend, Kumar Sangakkara and a legend in the history of the game. Jayawardene’s highest test score, 374 against South Africa is the highest test score by a right handed batsman in the history of test cricket. It is also regarded as the highest absolutely chance-less innings by a batsman in test cricket history.
Jayawardene made his Test cricket 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 cricket average of over 50 and a One Day 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.
He is one of only four Sri Lankansthe others being Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshanto have the prestigious record of having scored more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. Along with teammate Sangakkara, he recorded for the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Tests, scoring 5890 runs surpassing 5826 run stand of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium, which was his last test at the venue. He scored 56 runs at that match, where his counterpart scored 221 runs.
Jayawardene was a key member of the team that won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made to the final of 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20.
In 2006, Jayawardene was named by the International Cricket Council as the best international captain of the year and 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 affected 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 is currently working as an international TV commentator with the first test at Headingley on 19 May 2016 between England and Sri Lanka.
Personal life:
Jayawardene 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.
Jayawardene is married to Christina Mallika Sirisena, a travel consultant. They have a daughter.
Centuries:
Jayawardene has 34 test, 19 ODI and 1 T20I centuries. He is the first Sri Lankan and third overall to score hundreds in all forms of the game.
Honours:
ICC Captain of the Year 2006
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2007
ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2013
International records:
Tests:
Highest partnership for any wicket 624 for the third wicket by Kumar Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006.
Most partnership runs for the third wicket Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene ( scored 5890 runs )
Highest partnership for the fourth wicket 437 by Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera against Pakistan in 2009. Second highest for the fourth wicket of all time.
Highest partnership for the sixth wicket 351 by Mahela Jayawardene and Prasanna Jayawardene against India in 2009.
Highest partnership for the eighth wicket 170 by Mahela Jayawardene and Chaminda Vaas against South Africa in 2004.
He holds record for the highest runs scored on a single ground in Tests where he scored 2921 runs at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo.
“c Jayawardene b Muralitharan” is the most common bowler-fielder combination in the history of Test cricket (77).
He holds the record for the second highest number of catches in Tests with 206 catches in 423 matches.
Highest individual score in Tests by a Sri Lankan 374 runs against South Africa in 2006.
Highest individual score in Tests by a right-handed batsman – 374 runs against South Africa in 2006.
One-Day Internationals:
Jayawardene has been part of most wins by a Sri Lankan in ODIs with 241 wins and is second in the world after Ricky Ponting(262 wins).
Most number of ODI matches for Sri Lanka – 448 matches by Mahela.
Most number of catches – 218 catches by Mahela in 448 matches.
Highest partnership for third wicket 226 by Marvan Atapattu & Mahela Jayawardene against India in 2000.
Highest partnership for seventh wicket 126* by Mahela Jayawardene & Upul Chandana against India in 2005.
Twenty20 Internationals:
Mahela scored a century against Zimbabwe, becoming the first T20 international century by a Sri Lankan, and became the first Sri Lankan with hundreds in all forms of the game.
Until retirement, Mahela was the highest run scorer in T20Is for Sri Lanka, where currently holds by Tillakaratne Dilshan – Mahela is the second in the list with 1,493 runs.
Most number of 6s – 33 by Mahela Jayawardene
Career statistics:
Test
Matches: 149
Runs scored: 11814
100s/50s: 34/50
Top score: 374
ODI
Matches: 448
Runs scored: 12650
100s/50s: 19/77
Top score: 144
