Sanath Jayasuriya Profile by CricketArchive

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Player:

ST Jayasuriya

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DateLine: 20th February 2007

 

One of Sri Lanka’s greatest cricketers, Sanath Jayasuriya has many outstanding claims to greatness. As the most feared batsman in ODIs in the mid and late 90s Jayasuriya altered the face of batsmanship by going for the bowling from the first ball and giving the best of bowlers nightmares. A hero of the 1996 World Cup triumph Jayasuriya for long had a career strike rate of 90 - something unbelievable about a decade ago. Underlining his completeness as a cricketer he also proved his lasting qualities in Test matches eventually becoming his country’s highest Test run getter including a monumental 340 against India at Colombo in 1997. The compactly built Jayasuriya cuts, hooks and pulls with awesome power but is also a fluent driver of the ball on both sides of the wicket and is equally adept playing pace and spin as his superb record in both forms of the game will readily testify. One of a handful of cricketers to top the 10,000- run mark in ODIs Jayasuriya is only one of two players to score over 8000 runs and take 200 wickets in the shorter version of the game. As a left arm spinner Jayasuriya has been an under rated performer in Tests but in limited overs cricket his mixture of flight and turn – and his vast experience - can be more than a handful especially on responsive surfaces. He became the most capped player in ODIs in 2006. As a captain Jayasuriya has led by personal example leading the country from 1999 to 2003 and continuing to be a force to reckon with in his late 30s. He retired in 2006 but was persuaded to retract his decision and seems destined to play his fifth World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007.