Mahela Jayawardene & Kumar Sangakkara

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These two Sri Lankan legends have retired from ODIs. They had retired from T20s after the T20WC. We will get to watch Sanga a final few more times in Test cricket later this year, but in Mahela's case all forms of the game. This is the last time we'll ge to watch Mahela in internaitonal cricket.

VVS Laxman's retirement saw the loss of yet another elegant batting talent. But even he wasn't as special as Mahela who could execute his brilliance across all formats, going at more than a run-a-ball with absolute ease. He was everyone's favourite player to watch and with good reason.

Young Kane Williamson started the year like a house on fire. He was way ahead of everyone else since 2015 began. What Kumar Sangakkara (13 years his senior and approaching 38) has done since - culminating in his regaining control of the Test rankings, and dominating ODI batting, proves his enduring class. Sanga is perhaps the last true great of the game, and he's not yet completely done. Few of the greats left on such a high. I doubt that was the case for Sachin, Ponting, Lara, Dravid&Kallis in recent years. Bradman left on form regardless of his final innings, s he might be the exception.

Glowing tributes and articles to both can be posted here.

 

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The sadness of Mahela's unscripted farewell
http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-cricket-world-cup-2015/content/story/852225.html

Cricket does not seem ready to give up Mahela Jayawardene - but the game rarely does perfect endings

Yesterday afternoon I watched Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara at the nets. I have seen them bat together on a cricket field a million times, but watching two batsmen in the nets is different. They are next to each other, facing the ball at the same time, one right-handed, one left-handed, their bats facing one another, Sangakkara's lifted higher, Jayawardene's coming down straighter, but each making sweet music as it meets the ball.

I waited for the moment, and it came, two cover drives, played almost simultaneously, Jayawardene's a caress, Sangakkara's a thrust, and I imagined the balls meeting each other to exchange notes. They wouldn't have, because Sangakkara's went squarer and Jayawardene's straighter, but for a brief moment their eyes met, or so I imagined, almost appreciative of each other, and then they resumed the business of focusing on the task at hand as the next bowler ran in.

And then the horrible thought struck me: Mahela and Sanga, friends and comrades, the nicest men you would ever know, among the most prolific run-getters of our times, leaders of men and torchbearers of a wounded nation, and this is the last time they might be batting together in the nets, preparing for what could be their final battle together. Were they as aware of it as we were? Was it going to weigh them down or stir them to something magical? Surely, we were not about to see the last of Mahela. We are not ready. Not just yet.

But cricket writes its own script. It denied Don Bradman the perfect finish, and the perfect average, but in doing so it created the most poignant ending in the game. Sri Lanka, the finalists of the last two World Cups entered this quarter-final not as favourites, but they were against a team up against the scars of their own history. The toss was won, and it was down to the batsmen, Sanga and Mahela, the most prolific and the most dependable in their history, to deliver a score that would melt the most nervous of chasers at World Cups.

Sangakkara came to this match having made four silky hundreds, a World Cup record. Mahela had the pedigree of big-match temperament, if not the greatest form. His only hundred in the tournament had been against Afghanistan but it came when his team had been four down for 51 chasing 232. Two of his other World Cup hundreds had been the semi-final-winning effort in 2007 and a poetic and elegiac one in the 2011 final, both at more than run-a-ball and both when the start had been less than ideal. Apart from South Africa's battle against their own demons, that was the advantage Sri Lanka carried in to this match: experience of men who knew how to own the big stage. At three wickets down, Sri Lanka waited for deliverance.

Jayawardene's walk to the middle was brisk. A couple of springy hops outside the ropes and he was on his way, head down, past the departing batsman, to be met by his trusted accomplice, who had walked past the 30-yard circle to escort him to the battlefield. Jayawardene and Sangakkarra bumped fists but not a word was spoken. They had spent the previous evening together, dining with their wives, as they had done on many occasions before, not talking cricket but perhaps drawing comfort and security from the familiarity. It was down to them now to make sure this wasn't their last time together in Sri Lankan colours.

But something wasn't right. Sangakkara's majesty had deserted him. The South African new-ball bowling was sharp and aggressive and the fielding predatory, but Sangakkara's strokes were finding the fielders with worrying precision. It was down to Lahiru Thirimanne to get the Sri Lanka innings going but it was his dismissal to a miscued drive that brought together the familiar partners. By now, 300 was perhaps out of reach but, with the ball stopping and a hint of turn, perhaps even 250 would keep Sri Lanka's nose ahead.

The first runs with Jayawardene at the crease come via leg byes, an attempted tickle failing to find the bat, and 11 balls later he survives a leg-before appeal which, upon review is found to be marginal. But the worry is that Jayawardene has failed to pick Imran Tahir's googly. It is not the script written by Sri Lanka. Not a trial by spin for sure?

But there is spin from two ends already. There is nearly a run-out in the next over, from JP Duminy, as Sangakkara charges down the wicket while Jayawardene is ball watching. Four balls later, Jayawardene shapes to pull Tahir but ends up giving a limp catch to midwicket.

Batting can feel cruel. In no other sport can a single mistake be so utterly devastating. On another day, Jayawardene would have put that ball away for four. But today, it brought a magnificent career to an end. Who would have thought Sri Lanka would lose seven wickets to spin against South Africa? Who would have foreseen a hat-trick for Duminy?

There was sadness too in that Jayawardene was denied a shot at opening in this World Cup, a position he thought -- as did many others -- would have suited him, and the team, more in the final phase of his career. The selectors were convinced that they needed him to marshall the backend of the innings. But when Sri Lanka, as they had done in their final match in the 2011 World Cup, made a couple of surprising changes, they opened with Kushal Perera, who had played only one match in this World Cup, and handed an ODI debut to a rookie spinner. Jayawerdene was left to bat at the No.5.

A few minutes after his innings ended, I met Rahul Dravid in one of the commentary boxes. The game owes a fairytale ending to no one, he said, and no one should expect one. But no one, he added, would judge or remember Mahela Jayawardene by his final innings. There were tears in the Sri Lanka dressing room after the match ended. Not all the moist eyes around the cricket world would have been Sri Lankan. No one is bigger than the game, but cricket might miss him more than he misses cricket.

Sambit Bal is editor-in-chief of ESPNcricinfo. @sambitbal
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

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Last year the Telegraph had this to say about Mahela when he retired from Tests.

Farewell to Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene, cricket's batting Adonis
Sri Lanka batsman, who has played his 149th and final Test, had a run-scoring record with numbers of substance to show that prettiness and prolificacy can co‑exist at the crease
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cr...hela-Jayawardene-crickets-batting-Adonis.html
By Steve James
10:30PM BST 18 Aug 2014

Beauty can be a curse too, you know. As in life, so in cricket. The best-looking batsmen, the most aesthetically pleasing, are often judged by different, much harsher standards. So much more is expected of them. Their departure from the crease is always lamented more.

Take David Gower from a previous era. You would think he had been a failure given the manner in which he is remembered in some quarters. The languid strokes are still seen clearly in the mind’s eye, but they often come with captions screaming insouciance and recklessness.

But Gower averaged 44.25 in Tests, with 18 centuries. By contrast Graham Gooch, the epitome of hard work and sweat-laden commitment to a long innings, averaged 42.58 with 20 centuries.

To a certain extent Ian Bell suffers similarly in today’s era. He has undoubtedly been the most graceful and stylish England batsman of recent times.

But he also frustrates and sometimes angers observers. One of his signature shots has become the lofted drive down the ground off the spinner, almost deadeye straight over the bowler’s head, but his falling to this shot inevitably attracts the harshest censure. Yet Bell averages 45 with 21 hundreds.
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Making the game look easy clearly does have its disadvantages. Combining aestheticism, modern-day professionalism and sufficiently high numbers can be a tricky task. As the late Peter Roebuck once wrote: “Frilly strokes please the poets more than the professionals.”

Which brings me to Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, who has just played his 149th and final Test, finishing with a half-century against Pakistan in Colombo.

It is without hesitation that I declare him the most elegant batsman I have seen in my time playing and watching the game.

It is, of course, a big statement likely to provoke disagreement. Mark Waugh will doubtless have his proponents, as will VVS Laxman, Carl Hooper, Viv Richards, Zaheer Abbas, Gower and Bell too, and maybe even Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter when going further back.

For me, though, Jayawardene’s touch, with a cover drive that most can only dream of, and simple economy of movement place him a level above all the others. He has been cricket’s batting Adonis.

In the end, of course, it does not matter how a batsman looks at the crease. It really is a case of ‘not how, but how many’ when it comes to run-making, but all of us deep down would probably prefer to look pleasing to the eye when executing our strokes. Coming from possibly one of the ugliest batsmen to have played the first-class game, I think I speak from experience.

So, oh, to have batted like Jayawardene. I thought that from the moment I first saw him, in an A international at Kurunegala, in central Sri Lanka, in 1998. He scored a century, and was on a different plane, aesthetically and technically, to the rest of us playing in that match.

And there were some decent players in attendance: Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Thilan Samaraweera and Sanjeeva Ranatunga (brother of Arjuna) for Sri Lanka; the late Ben Hollioake, Andrew Flintoff and Nick Knight for England.

Jayawardene was already a huge star in his own country. As a schoolboy at Nalanda College in Colombo crowds had flocked specifically to watch him bat. I do not blame them. I would always do the same.

The allure has endured, and so these past few days at the Sinhalese Sports Club that was his home ground from a young age, students past and present from Nalanda have gathered to bid farewell. He made a half-century, as he had on debut in 1997, a match that was a harbinger of his career ahead. It was drenched in runs.

At the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, India made 537 for eight, to which Sri Lanka replied with 952 for six! Sanath Jayasuriya made 340 and Jayawardene strolled in at No 6 with the scoreboard reading 790 for four. It was a fine initiation. His own monster score would come in 2006 when he made 374 against South Africa at his beloved SSC.

Despite all this, Jayawardene has still had his critics, citing his Test average abroad that was ‘only’ 41.50, compared to 49.84 overall. But he did make 10 centuries away from home, including two at Lord’s and one in Hobart. Only six players have made more than his 11,814 Test runs, four made more than his 34 centuries and three made an individual score greater than his 374.

These are undoubtedly numbers of substance to add to the style. Prettiness and prolificacy can co‑exist, then.

 

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Mahela: Cricketing gentleman takes his bow
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/32516#

Mahela Jayawardena, arguably Sri Lanka’s most elegant batsman of his generation and second only to Arjuna Ranatunga as a captain, leaves the game’s biggest stage this week, playing his last Test Match against Pakistan at his favourite hunting ground, the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo.

Jayawardena had indicated that he would continue playing in the one-day format of the game until the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year. It is the one prize that has eluded him, having been in two World Cup finals and losing both, one of them as captain and after scoring a century in the other.

Jayawardena leaves a plethora of records to savour but he will be best remembered for his batting artistry, combining elegance with efficiency, which is why he has been successful across all versions of the games including the ‘instant’ T-20. He is one of a handful of cricketers to score a century in all three formats of the game.

Denagamage Proboth Mahela De Silva Jayawardena, now 37 years of age, is the son of Sunila and Senerath Jayawardena. Born and raised in Colombo, Jayewardena’s talent was evident at his school Nalanda College where he captained its cricket team in 1994. He was runner-up schoolboy cricketer that year.

As a schoolboy, Jayawardena almost gave up cricket. That was when his younger brother Dishal, died of a brain tumour at the age of 16. This affected Jayawardena psychologically and he gave up the game for some time. Eventually his parents persuaded him to start playing cricket again.

Jayawardena first played for Sri Lanka in a Test Match against India in 1997 at the age of 20, when the country was still savouring the afterglow of its World Cup win a year earlier. It is a game that is still remembered for producing the highest score by a team, when Sri Lanka scored a mammoth 952 runs.

Jayawardena announced his arrival on the Test arena with a classy half-century while Sanath Jayasuriya scored 340 and Roshan Mahanama weighed in with a double-century. The youngster was allowed to blossom in a set-up which included the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva.

And bloom he did by quickly making the world sit up and take notice with his in-the-trenches resolve and an approach that was easy on the eye. Seventeen years later, he has scored nearly 25,000 international runs including 34 Test centuries and has held 202 catches, second only to Rahul Dravid.

His greatest moment as a batsman came when he scored 374 and put on a Test record of 624 runs for the third wicket with his close friend Kumar Sangakkara (287) against South Africa at the SSC in July 2006. As his batting improved in leaps and bounds, the Sri Lankan captaincy beckoned.

He was appointed captain of the Sri Lanka cricket team in the one-day format from 2004 and then as overall captain from 2006 to 2009. In his first assignment as captain, Jayawardena led the team to England, drawing the Test series 1-1 and handing a 5-0 defeat to the hosts in the one-day series.

As a captain, Jayawardena has won critical acclaim not only for his tactical acumen but also for his calm demeanour under pressure. He is much respected in the cricketing fraternity for his gentlemanly conduct both on and off the field. He has a reputation of being a tough competitor, but a fair one.

These attributes are reflected in the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarding him the Captain of the Year award in 2006, Captain of the ‘World One-Day International Team of the Year’ that year and the ‘Spirit of Cricket Award’ for sportsmanship a year later.

The highlight of Jayawardena’s first stint as captain was leading Sri Lanka to the World Cup final in the West Indies in 2007, a game that Sri Lanka lost amid chaotic scenes in fading light. Jayawardena announced his resignation as captain shortly afterwards and Kumar Sangakkara took over the reins.

A similar fate was to befall Sangakkara who led Sri Lanka to the World Cup finals in India where Jayawardena scored a breathtaking century. His was the only century scored by a batsman on the losing side in a World Cup final. Thereafter, Sangakkara resigned. Tillekeratne Dilshan succeeded him.

Dilshan’s tenure as skipper was short-lived. In January 2012, Jayawardena, ‘Maiya’ to his team mates, was reappointed as captain. He returned to the job with a bang, immediately plotting the then world number one England’s downfall with a memorable 180 and excellent captaincy in the Galle Test.

In his second stint as skipper Jayawardena was clear that he was keen to step down when a successor was ready to take over the captaincy. After Jayawardena lost the World T-20 final to the West Indies in Colombo in 2012, he resigned as skipper in that format and Angelo Mathews took over.

One year later, Angelo Mathews had been appointed as captain in all formats of the game after Jayawardena announced his resignation, first from the T-20 format after winning the World Cup in Dhaka and now from the Test arena. As Mathews said, his calming influence in the dressing room will be missed.

Usually diplomatic in his public utterances but outspoken when the occasion demands, Jayawardena has had his share of run-ins with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), criticising the game’s administrators. In private, he is a very sensitive man: he is known to carry a photograph of his brother with him always.

His only blemish was when he was among a handful of players lobbying for changes in the itinerary to a tour of England, so that they could participate in the cash-rich Indian Premier league. That apart, Jayawardena has remained the modest and unassuming gentleman that he was seventeen years ago.

Announcing his retirement, Jayawardena hinted that he was keen to spend more time with his wife Christina and their eight-month-old daughter. Sri Lankan cricket and its current crop of players will be fortunate if they can enlist the services of this truly outstanding cricketer in some capacity in the years to come.

Courtesy: Daily Mirror
http://www.dailymirror.lk/51054/mahela-cricketing-gentleman-takes-his-bow