They are not playing the game for Money

My mum and dad weren't even knowing each others when Sri Lanka men's team was recording their first ever win in an ODI in 1979. I started to follow cricket even before I went to school, that's around 1995. Sri Lanka winning the 1996 World Cup is the oldest clear memory I have. I wasn't born in 80s to see the rise of Sri Lanka men's cricket team.

But this Sri Lanka women's team helps me to imagine it looked like. How Sri Lankans at that time felt after winning. How proud they were of their team on beating a powerhouse in cricket world. History repeats itself.

Eshani Kaushalya is the new superstar in Sri Lanka's cricket world. Chamari Atapattu is the new aggressive opening batter. Shashikala Siriwardena is the new captain cool. Sri Lanka women cricketers are the new heroes for Sri Lankans.

Nobody expected performances like this from them in this world cup.

Until they came into the world cup 2013, they have never won a game against any giants like England, Australia, New Zealand or India. But so far in this world cup campaign, they were able to beat two of them. They started with England, power house in their sport.

Then India, under flood lights. Remarkably this match was their first ever match under flood lights. Sri Lanka have 4 International grounds with flood lights. That shows how much the SLC cares about their women cricketers.

It was a must win game for both teams. Winner will go through to Super Six and other team has to stay ahead of West Indies's net run rate to qualify.

Certainly the toss have played a huge part in the result. Yet, they had to score 270+ to put pressure on a strong opponent like India, on this flat Mumbai wicket.

And Sri Lanka did that. More importantly even after their star batter, Atapattu getting out cheaply in the first over. Non of the other top order players are gifted as Atapattu. But they hanged in there. They were determined to play long innings.

Especially after the nightmare against West Indies. Surely they must have been over the moon after the win against England. In the next match, West Indians just blown them away. Probably that brought them back to earth.

After Atapattu's dismissal, the team coach and manager took a radical decision to sent Deepika Rasangika at 3, in previous two matches she batter at 8 and 9. But that decision paid off. Deepika Rasangika scored 84 runs and adjudged player of the match. She wasn't just hanging there, she score at a good strike rate with opener Avanthika Mendis.

They were able to build a hundred run partnership for the 2nd wicket. Highest ever 2nd wicket partnership for Sri Lanka women's cricket. What an occasion to do it.

Then the skipper Shashikala came in and scored 59 runs even before you realize it. And Kaushalya finished the innings scoring 56 not out at a strike rate of 180.64, I think, this must be how Sri Lankans in 34 years ago have felt about Duleep Mendis's innings in Sri Lanka's first ever ODI win. What a turn around this has been for her. Until she came to India, she had 2 sixes in 47 ODIs with an average of 15 runs.

Then again with the ball Kaushalya got the early break through. Each an every 7 bowlers Shashikala has used were able to pick up at least a wicket. India couldn't qualify for the 2nd round in their own world cup. What a PROFESSIONAL performance by Sri Lankan girls. Now they are the only sub continental team to qualify for Super Six.

Sri Lanka government's decision to move women’s cricketers into the armed forces has paid off. Now they can concentrate their whole time for cricket than working for their lives. These girls are not playing the game for money or anything else. They are not getting a huge match fee compared to men's teams. They play the game just because they LOVE THE GAME.

That is exactly how Sri Lanka men's cricket team was in pre-1996 era. These girls may not win any more matches in this world cup. But they have done enough to surprise the whole world. These 2 wins may attract more girls in Sri Lanka to play cricket. That will be the foundation to win a world cup in another 10 years.

තවදුරටත් 'නින්දාවක්' නොවේ

පසුගියදා ශ්‍රී ලංකා කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම එංගලන්තය හමුවේ වාර්තා කළ ජයග්‍රහනය පිළිබඳව ජැරොඩ් කිම්බර් (@ajarrodkimber) ඉංග්‍රීසි බසින් රචිත ලිපියක සිංහල පරිවර්තනයකි.

එංගලන්තයේ, ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ, නවසීලන්තයේ අර්ධ-වෘත්තීයමය භාවය හැරුනු විට කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් යනු නින්දාවක්. අනෙක් සෑම කණ්ඩායමක්ම පාහේ දුර්වලයන්.

තම කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායමට ලැබෙන අඩු මූළ්‍යයමය දායකත්වය හා වෘත්තීය භාවයෙන් තොරවීම දකුණු අප්‍රිකානුවන් පිළිකුල් කළයුතුයි. ඉන්දියානුවන් තම කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් ඔහේ තිබෙන්නට අත්හැර තිබෙනවා. ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් දෙදෙනෙකු යම් දක්ෂතාවක් පෙන්වන බැවින් කොදෙව්වන් මෑතක සිට කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් පිළිබඳව ගැඹුරින් සිතීම අරඹා තිබෙනවා. පාකිස්ථානය සියලු මට්ටම්වල වීරවරුන් හට අනුග්‍රහය දිය යුතුයි. අපි නිරන්තරයෙන්ම බංගලාදේශය ක්‍රිකට් උන්මාදයෙන් පෙළෙන රටක් ලෙස හැඳින් වුවත්, කෝ ඔවුන්ගේ කාන්තාවන් ?

මේ සම්බන්ධව අයි.සී.සී යද එතරම් උනන්දුවක් නැත.

පසුගිය විස්සයි විස්ස ලෝක කුසලානයේදී ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ට අඩු දෛනික ගෙවීමක් සිදුකිරීම වැරදියි. එය සමාජයට අප්‍රසන්න පණිවිඩයක් ලබා දුන්නා. මේ තරඟාවලියේ සංවිධානය ආධුනිකයි. ඒ අතරම, සියලුම කාන්තා කණ්ඩායම් වලට වෘත්තීය මට්ටමේ පහසුකම් ලබාදීමට අදාල රටවල පාලක මණ්ඩල වලට බලකිරීමට අයි.සී.සී යට නොහැකි වූයේ මන්ද. කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් සඳහා අවම වශයෙන් 5% ක් වත් වෙන්කිරීමට අකමැති කිසිඳු ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රීඩාකරන රටක් සඳහා අයි.සී.සී තරඟාවලි වලින් ලැබෙන ආදායම් නොදීමට කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි.

මේ 2013 යි, මේ වනවිට ක්‍රිකට් යනු ඩොලර් බිලියන වලින් ගණු දෙණු කරන ක්‍රීඩාවක්. කාන්තා ලෝක කුසලානය ලොව පුරා විසුරුවා හැරෙනවා. වෘත්තීය මට්ටමේ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් වශයෙන්, මේ කාන්තාවන් සඳහා සරිලන ගෙවීමක් කළ යුතුයි. ආධුනික කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් වල හා වෘත්තීයමය කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් වල වෙනස ඔබට දැක ගැනීමට අවශ්‍යයනම් කරුණාකර එංගලන්තයට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ජයගත් තරඟයේ නැවත විකාශය නරඹන්න.

පෙර ලෝක කුසලානයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දැක්වූයේ ඉතාමත් දුර්වල දක්ෂතාවන්. ඔවුන් හරියට එහෙන් මෙහෙන් අහුලාගෙන ලෝක කුසලානයකට පිටත්කර එවූ ක්‍රීඩා සමාජ කණ්ඩායමක් මෙන් වූවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ කවුරුන් හෝ කෙනෙකු එයින් ලැජ්ජාවට පත්වන්නට ඇති.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවට කරන බළපෑම පිළිබඳව මට වඩා විවේචකයෙක් ඔබට දකින්නට නොලැබේවි. ඔවුන් කණ්ඩායමේ තේරීම් වලට අනුමැතිය දෙනවා, වයස්ගත දේශපාලකයන් කණ්ඩායමට ගෙන එනවා, කොටින්ම ක්‍රිකට් වර්ධනයට ඔවුන්ගේ දේශාපාලනය ඉමහත් බාධාවක් වුනා. නමුත්, ශ්‍රී ලාංකාව එංගලන්තයට එරෙහිව තම ප්‍රථම ජයග්‍රහණය වාර්තා කිරීමට මූලික වූ තීන්දුව ගැනීමටද ඔවුන්ගෙන් කෙනෙකු කටයුතු කළා.

ඒ තීන්දුව තමයි, ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් හට ආරක්ෂක අංශවල රැකියා පිරිනැමීම. ඔවුන් වෙනත් රැකියාවක් සඳහා වැයකළයුතු කාලය තම ක්‍රීඩා දක්ෂතා ඔප්නැංවීම සඳහා යෙදවීමට ඉඩ සලසා දීම. අද වනවිට සාක්ෂිය රූපවාහිනී තිරය මත දිස් වෙනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් ලකුණු 239 ක් හඹා යමින් සිටියා, ආරම්භක පිතිකාරිනියන් එයට අඩිතාලම සකසා දුන්නා. එක් අයෙක් වැරෙන් පන්දුවට පහර දෙන අතර අනෙකා කඬුල්ලේ රැඳී සිටිමින්. ඔවුන් තම මැද පෙළට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දුන්නා. අනතුරුව අංක 7 ස්ථානයෙන් පිටියට පිවිසි එශානි කෞශළ්‍යා ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීම ඇරඹීමට පන්දු 7ක් වැය කළා. මුලින් මා හිතුවේ ඇයට දක්ශතාවක් නැතැයි කියා. මම හිතුවා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට හොඳ ඉදිරිපෙළ පිතිකාරිනියන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු සිටියත්, මැද දුර්වලයි කියා. එවිට කෞශළ්‍යා වැරෙන් පහර දීම ඇරඹුවා. අවස්ථාව ලැබුණු විට ඇය දඟ පන්දුයවන්නියන්ගේ හිසට ඉහළින් පන්දුව එල්ල කළා, හරියට කෙවින් ඕ'බ්‍රයන් පිරිමි කණ්ඩායම හමුවේ ක්‍රීඩා කළාක් මෙන්. එංගලන්ත කාන්තාවන්ට කරකියා ගැනීමට දෙයක් තිබුනේ නැහැ.

එංගලන්තය තියුණු තරඟයක් අපේක්ෂා නොකරන්නට ඇති. ඔවුන් ක්‍රීඩා කරන්නේ දුර්වල කණ්ඩායමක් සමඟ. ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේදී පවසන ආකාරයට, තරඟට පැමින සාමාන්‍යය අයුරින් ක්‍රීඩා කිරීම ප්‍රමානවත්. නමුත් දැන් ඔවුන් හමුවේ, සාමාන්‍යය ලකුණු 15 ක් වන, එක් අර්ධ ශතකයක් පමණක් හිමි, තරඟ 47 කදී හයේ පහර 2ක් පමණක් එල්ල කර ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකා මැදපෙළ පිතිකාරිණියක් හතර අතට පහරවල් එල්ල කරනවා.

එංගලන්ත ක්‍රිකට් ලෝකය කඩා වැටුනා. වෙනදා උකුස්සන් මෙන් පන්දු රකින එංගලන්ත ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් දැන් පන්දු රකින්නේ ඉරිදා අවන්හල් කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙසයි. ජෙනී ගන් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් හොඳ ස්ථාන වලට පන්දුව යොමුකරන, ලකුණු ලබා ගැනීමට අපහසු පන්දු යවන්නියක්, නමුත් දැන් ඇය එකකට පසු එක ෆුල් ටොස් පන්දු එවනවා. තමන් පුහුණුවීම් වලදී 10 000 වතාවක් රැකගෙන ඇති ආකාරයේ උඩ පන්දුවක් එල්විස් අතහිරිනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් කලින් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නට ඇත්තේ තමන් තවදුරටත් දුර්වලයන් නොවේ යැයි පෙන්වන, ධෛර්යය සම්පන්න ක්‍රීඩා විලාශයක් හා ආත්ම ශක්තිය වඩවන ආකාරයේ තරඟයක්. නමුත් දැන් ඔවුන් අවසාන පන්දුවාරයට පිවිසෙන්නේ ජයග්‍රහනයට ලකුණු 9ක් අවැසිව.

අවසාන පන්දුවාරය විස්මිතයි.

සුරන්ගිකා පළමු පන්දුව ශෝර්ට් ෆයින් ලෙග් දෙසට යොමු කර එක ලකුණක් ලබා ගත්තා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පන්දු 5 කින් ලකුණු 8 ක් අවශ්‍යයි. කෞශළ්‍යා පන්දු 39 කදී ලකුණු 49ක් රැස් කට සිටිනවා.

යම් චකිතයක් පෙන්වීම වෙනුවට, කෞශළ්‍යා පන්දුව ස්ක්වෙයාර් ලෙග් වලට ඉහළින් එල්ල කර ලකුණු 6 ක් ලබා ගන්නවා. ඇය ප්‍රීති ඝෝෂා කළේ හරියට ඇය තරඟය ජය ගත්තාක් මෙන්, ඒ වනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට තවත් ලකුණු 2ක් අවශ්‍යයයි පන්දු 4 කින්.

මීළඟ පන්දුවටත් කෞශළ්‍යා එයම කිරීමට උන්සාහ කළා, නමුත් පන්දුව තනි උඩ ගියා පමණයි. පන්දුව නැවත පහළට පැමිණීමට යම් කාලයක් ගනු ලැබුවා. පන්දුව පහළට එන විට, කෞශළ්‍යා ඥානාන්විත වූවා පන්දුව රැක ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කරන එල්විස්ගේ දෘෂ්ටි පථයේ පෙනීසිටීමට. එල්විස් සූදානම් වනුයේ එංගලන්තයට තරඟය ජගැනීමට මගක් විවර කරදීමටයි. නමුත් ඇය උඩ පන්දුව අත හැරියා.

එංගලන්තය සුළු වශයෙන් පැමිණිලි කළා කෞශළ්‍යා පන්දු රකින්නියට බාධා කළ ලෙස, නමුත් පුනරූපන වලට අනුව කෞශළ්‍යා එය මනාව සිදුකර තිබෙනවා. තණතීරුවෙන් ඉවතට දුවමින් හා එල්විස් ගේ මාර්ගයට බාධා නොකර. උත්කෘෂ්ඨ ක්‍රීඩා විලාශයක් හා ලකුණු සම කිරීමක්.

මීළඟ පන්දුව සුරංගිකා මිඩෝෆ් පන්දු රකින්නිය වෙත එල්ල කළ අතර, කෞශළ්‍යා දිවගියමුත්, සුරංගිකා නොදුවන ලදි. කෞශළ්‍යා දුවද්දී දැවී ගියා. දුවද්දී දැවීයාම සම්පූර්ණ කරගත හැකි මට්ටමේ සන්සුන් බවක් එංගලන්තයට ඉතිරිව තිබුණා.

දැන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකාවේ කඩුළු නවයක් දැවී අවසන් - ලකුණු සමයි - හා සුරංගිකා, අංක 3 සිට 11 වනතෙක් සෑම ස්ථානයකම ක්‍රීඩා කර ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකා කඩුළු රකින්නියට සිදුවෙලා තිබෙනවා ජයග්‍රහණය සඳහා අවසන් පන්දු දෙකෙන් එක් ලකුණක් ලබා ගැනීමට.

ඇය අවසන් පන්දුවට පෙර පන්දුව කෙළින්ම පොයින්ට් හි පන්දු රකින්නිය වෙත එල්ල කළා, ලකුණක් නැහැ. අනෙක් අන්තයේ සිටින පිතිකාරිණිය සමඟ සුළු කතාබහකට යනවා වෙනුවට, ඇය ස්ක්වෙයාර් ලෙග් කළාපයට ඇවිද ගියා ඇයගේ ඉච්ඡාභංගත්වය පිටකිරීමට.

දැන් තරඟය සමබරයි. තම ක්‍රීඩාවේ සුපිරි බලවතා, වර්තමාන ලෝක ශූරයන්ට එරෙහිව දුර්වලයන්. කඩුළු නවයක් දැවී අවසන්. ලකුණු සමයි. ලොව පුරා විකාශය වන තරඟයක්.

සුරංගිකා එයට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වන්නේ හයේ පහරක් සමඟින්. ඇයගේ ප්‍රථම ජාත්‍යන්තර හයේ පහර, තම මව්බිමට එංගලන්තයට එරෙහි ප්‍රථම ජය වාර්තා කිරීම සඳහා.

එය එක් තියුණු කාන්තා ක්‍රිකට් තරඟයක් නොවේ, එය තියුණු ක්‍රිකට් තරඟයක්. එය නින්දාවකින් බොහෝ වෙනස්.

Mahela Jayawardene, the Greatest Sri Lankan Test batsman - Fantasy vs Reality

Since few days some of the so called statsgurus asking for Mahela's head. The points these guys are making are Mahela's away record and as they say Mahela's weakness outside the off stump against fast bowlers [which is ridiculous to say to a batsman like Mahela Sir]. As they say, Mahela has a poor away record. But hey, who cares about these useless stats. There are other ways to determine the greatness. Anyway, I'm writing this article to prove those stats guys are wrong and Mahela is Sri Lanka's best Test batsman.

Let's have a look at current middle order batsmen's career averages.

Kumar Sangakkara - 55.80
Thilan Samaraweera - 49.54
Mahela Jayawardene - 49.41

Don't depend merely on averages. Not only in Tests, Mahela has scored 10 000 runs in ODIs as well. That shows his greatness as a Test batsman. [Yes, we Mahela fans don't rate Don Bradman at all. Who is that guy ? He doesn't have 10 000 runs in any format. In fact he didn't even played a single ODI. So how can we rate him as a Test batsman. We are getting huge support from Sachin Tendulkar fans for this cause.] Also Mahela has 31 Test tons, which is the highest for a Sri Lankan batsman. [Sangakkara has 30 tons in 34 innings less than Mahela].

Then they show Mahela's Away record. Yes, it is not great. But if you are a true Sri Lankan, you should not talk about this. We Mahela Jayawardene fans are expecting an 'Ostrich Approach' from all the Sri Lankans on this matter. That's the best way to solve it and that would benefit our Test team in a great manner.

Away :-

Sangakkara - 48.50
Samaraweera - 43.62
Mahela - 34.79

Outside Asia :-

Sangakkara - 40.87
Samaraweera - 37.90
Mahela - 30.93

But hey, Mahela was born as the most talented batsman Sri Lanka have ever produced. And he is from a great school in Colombo, Nalanda College, which has produced many Test cricketers. May be what Mahela has delivered as a Test batsman may not be enough for you, but surely he has delivered more than Samarawera. Has Samaraweera ever scored a century in an ODI world cup ? How can we forget Mahela's ODI centuries in 2007 ODI world cup semi final and 2011 ODI world cup final. Those two tons itself enough to consider him as a Great Test batsman.

Below table shows Sri Lankan batsmen Away from home in last 2 years.

Now those who are obsessed with stats are saying that Mahela has a low average than Rangana Herath and Dilhara Fernando as batsmen. But I think this is a conspiracy against Mahela. This is totaly Herath's fault ! How ungrateful is this short, chubby guy is to his captain. He has managed to stay not out in most of the times. His last innings at MCG is a prime example for that. Mahela has done nothing wrong by averaging less than 17.

Then they show, Away from home records of all the batsmen who has played more than 19 matches. Sangakkara is the 27th in the list with an average of 49.97 and Samaraweera is 60th in the list with an average of 44.75. Then there is Mahela at 131 with an average of 36.80. As I said  earlier, we Mahela fans never expect any Sri Lankan to look at these stats. If you are doing so, we consider you are insulting Sri Lanka & you are a 'Sri Lankan Sri Lanka Hater'.

However if you had to see that stat you should see it in this way, "Mahela's Away average of 36.80 is right up there with GREAT TEST BATSMEN like Taufeeq Umar (37.48), Jacob Oram (36.09), Shaun Pollock (36.45), MS Dhoni (33.48), Scott Styris (33.22)."

Now I'm going to tell you few more good reasons, why Mahela is a better Test batsman than Samaraweera;

Mahela Jayawardene is an elegant and utterly classy batsman. His drive through the covers is majestic and treat to watch. How can you compare him with someone like Samaraweera, who has an ugly technique ?

Also don't forget that Mahela Jayawardene is so charming and can speak English better than Samaraweera. Isn't that enough to make him a better Test batsman ?

Mahela is the best Test batsman Sri Lanka ever produced, because he is the only Sri Lankan to play with a Monobrow.

Mahela has held more than 400 catches at international level, which is highest for any fielder. That makes him the best Test batsman Sri Lanka ever produced.

Another good reason to say Mahela Jayawardene is the greatest batsman from Sri Lanka is, because he was the most expensive foreign player in last 2 IPL Auctions. Mahela's IPL value was $ 1.5 million and Sangakkara's was $ 0.7 million. What do you think about Samaraweera ? Surely he is in 'minus' values. How boring is that guy.

How many so called great batsmen were able to score 2000 runs on flat SSC pitch ? Sir Mahela is the only Test batsman who was able to do so.

One more reason, Mahela is a great Test batsman because everybody around me are saying so and my girlfriend has a crush on him.

Future of Sri Lanka's Test Cricket

I'm writing this just few hours before the day 3 of Boxing Test. Sri Lanka have bundled out for 156 and currently Australia are leading 284 runs. By looking at this, most probably the result will be an appaling one for Sri Lanka and match might end on day 3 itself. Sri Lanka's hope for a Test win in Australia is fading day by day. This is Sri Lanka's first ever boxing day test in Australia after 1995. Even Sri Lanka's most senior players Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene have complained that they have never got an opportunity  to play a Test match at MCG in their 12-15 years long careers. But if this is Sri Lanka going to perform when they got the opportunity, can they expect another chance before another 17 years ? Mind you, some people considering this batting line up as Sri Lanka's 'golden generation'. However still there is some hope for a test win at SCG.

What is Sri Lanka's future from here ? Mahela has stepped down from captaincy and most probably Angelo Mathews will be the new captain. Also we have to consider that Sri Lanka have an aging batting order. Dilshan, Samaraweera, Mahela and Sangakkara all 4 in their 35-36. It is inevitable that Sri Lanka have to groom few youngsters for a smooth transition. But at the same time you can't lose your best players. As I have heard, Dilshan and Samaraweera are already talking about their retirements plans.

Let's see a statistical analysis of which 2 should be the ones to sacrifice for the future. Below table shows overall stats of Sri Lankan batsmen in last 2 years. According to this, past 2 years has been a hard time for Sri Lankans. Only Sangakkara and Mathews have respectable averages. Samaraweera and Dilshan having 'OK' averages. Mahela Jayawardene is averaging about 30, which is unacceptable for a player of his calibre.

This 2nd table shows performances of Sri Lankan batsmen away from home in last 2 years. Thilan Samaraweera who averages over 50 has been Sri Lanka's best batsman away from home in recent years. Then there is Sangakkara who averages almost 48. Surprisingly Prasanna Jayawardene has been Sri Lanka's 3rd best batsman in abroad in past 2 years. He averages 46.77. Dilshan averages 39. And more surprisingly Mahela Jayawardene is averaging rubbishy 17.66, he couldn't score even a single 50 in those 21 innings. Even Rangana Herath has averaged more than he.

Third table shows their records in last 2 years outside Asia. Nothing different in Samaraweera's record. He has been the best batsman. And then Dilshan with a 47+ average. Sangakkara has struggled a bit. Then once again there is Mahela Jayawardene with a pathetic record.

By looking at all these statistics, Mahela Jayawardene has been the under performing batsman in recent years. Why does his away record is so miserable in recent past ? Is it a temporary loss of form ? Let's find it out.

Below table shows all the Sri Lankan players record away from home throughout their careers. Clearly you can see who are the best Sri Lankan players. To be categorized as 'great' , a batsman should be able to perform in most conditions. Sangakkara averages 49.66, if you compare it with other world class players, even Brian Lara (47.80) , Inzamam-ul-Haq (46.98) , Ricky Ponting (46.40) , Javed Miandad (45.80) are also behind him. Samaraweera also have a very good average of 45.60. But where is Mahela Jayawardene ? He is there with a very average average. If you compare Mahela's record with players from other counties (who played at least 19 away matches), he is the 126th player in the list. And he is there with very average Test batsmen like Shaun Pollock (36.45), MS Dhoni (33.48) and Scott Styris (33.22).

This final table shows all the Sri Lanka players record outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe). An Asian Test cricketer's real challenge is performing outside Asia. As we can see in the table, many batsmen have decreased their averages. Once again Sangakkara is proving why he is the best batsman from Sri Lanka. And again ! Samaraweera and Dilshan are above Mahela Jayawardene.

After looking at table 1, 2 and 3 you may think that Mahela Jayawardene's recnt poor record away from home is due to a loss of form. But table 4 & 5 proves he had that problem throughout his 15 years career. SERIOUSLY ! A pathetic Away record for 15 years of his Test career. It's just getting worse with his age.

It is no doubt that Mahela Jayawardene is an elegant and utterly classy batsman and it is treat to watch him batting. Also without a doubt he is the most talented player Sri Lanka has produced in recent decades. But sadly elegance or talent doesn't make runs itself. He has to apply that to make runs, especially outside home conditions.

But at the moment Sri Lankan cricket is in a crucial junction and have to make some tough calls for the future. Few youngsters have to bring in at the expense of 2 seniors. By looking at statistics, those two seniors should be TM Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene. I know now many of you must be mad at me. But statistics don't lie. Samaraweera has been a better Test players than Mahela. And definitely he is not the one to retire at this stage. Now don't show up Mahela's ODI or T20 statistics to justify his place in the Test team. I'm just talking about Test cricket. I never mentioned Mahela should retire from ODIs or T20Is.

With scraping West Indies and South Africa Test matches, most probably Sri Lanka will play only with Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the year 2013. In these matches Sri Lanka should include more youngsters in the Test team other than providing opportunity for under performing stars to boost their averages.

Crickethematics | Kallis/Sachin = 2

When is India's next tour of Sri Lanka

Rise of the Silent Assassin

Rangana Herath is now sharing the 2nd position of ICC Test bowling rankings with Vernon Philander, both of them are there with 838 points. Only Dale Steyn is ahead of them with 880 point. According to this rankings Herath is the highest ranked spinner in the world at the moment. This is probably the greatest highlight of his career. His number of points, 838 is his career best. Many would argue as Saeed Ajmal or Graeme Swann is the current best spinner in the world. Herath doesn't have many variations or anything special other than tight lines and lengths. But he is effective. He had to fill the vacuum left by Murali. Probably he will not be able to fill it completely. But Herath has been doing it really well until now.

Sri Lanka's home test series against Pakiatan in 2009 has been the turning point of Rangana Herath's career. He wasn't there in the original squad or in selectors minds. He was light years away from playing for Sri Lanka again. He was able to pick just 1 wicket by giving away 115 runs against Bangladesh in his last match, in 2008. His career figures was standing as

14-Matches 36-Wickets 39.38- Average 7/132 - Best Bowling (against Pakistan)

Not impressive at all. Reason for these figures partly because of Murali's dominance and partly Herath not getting opportunities consistently. This has been the fate of most of the Sri Lankan spinners during Murali's era.

Destiny is a funny thing and some things are meant to be. Just a day before the start of 1st test at Galle, Murali got injured. 22 years old Suraj Randiv who was yet to make his debut, was the 3rd spinner in the squad (Ajantha Mendis was there). (Add to that Prasanna Jayawardene also was injured and Kaushal Silva was the extra wicket keeper in the squad). Angelo Mathews was certain to make his test debut in this match. By looking at the injured list and the squad, it was looking like Sri Lanka will play 3 debutants in the 1st test. But Kumar Sangakkara who was Sri Lankan captain did not want to take a risk with too many debutants. He wanted Herath in the squad as soon as possible, probably because of Pakistan's weakness against slow left arm spin and Herath's ability to open the innings ? (Herath opened the 2nd innings as nightwatchman with Warnapura). Herath was playing in the Staffordshire League in England when he was summoned. He landed Sri Lanka just few hours before the start of the match. Luckily for Herath, Pakistan chose to field 1st. (Even though this is irrelevant, to complete the story :- Sri Lanka decided to go with Dilshan as the wicket keeper and Saeed Ajmal made his test debut for Pakistan).

It took 47 overs to bowl Herath in the 1st innings, mainly to give him more time to recover from jet lag. He took 1 for 52 in 16 overs. But his career turning bowling spell happened in the 2nd innings. At the end of day 3, Pakistan were 71/2 chasing 168. Chances were looking bleak for Sri Lanka. But Herath turned the match on its head. Herath managed to remove both overnight batsmen in his 1st over of the day. Pakistan collapsed from 71/2 to 117 allout. Herath's figures were 4/15 in 11.3 overs. This was the time Herath shown that he belongs to test cricket. Herath played all 3 test matches and managed to pick 15 wickets at 26.93, also the 2nd highest wicket taker in the series.

Since then, he never looked back. From July 2009, he has picked 138 wickets at 27.14 in 28 matches. Since Herath made his came back in July 2009, among the bowlers who have managed to take more than 50 wickets, this is where he stands.

However Herath is among the highest wicket takers in the year 2012 so far. It is a close run between Swann and Herath.

Swann has 56 wickets from 13 matches (23 innings) and Herath 55 wickets from 8 matches (15 innings). You can say Herath has played most of his matches on Asian spin friendly pitches. But except 5 matches in England, Swann also has played 8 matches in Asia. If we consider the average, Saeed Ajmal has the best average of 20.56 in 6 matches (12 innings) and Herath is 2nd best with 20.94. Got to mention that Ajmal played all his 6 matches in Asian pitches and Herath's 8 matches includes the new year test at Cape Town. However these statistics will change since Swann has the Nagpur test and Herath has 2 tests in Australia.

This is Herath's performances in Sri Lanka's last 3 series.

It is safe to say that Herath has able to out played all opposition bowlers including Swann and Ajmal in these series. Herath might not be able to fill Murali's shoes completely. But He is doing pretty well at this stage of post Murali era in Sri Lankan cricket.