Pathum, Kamindu and Milan stars in the making

At one point, many thought that Angelo Mathews would one day break Kumar Sangakkara’s record for most runs by a Sri Lankan.

Sanga scored 12,400 runs in Test cricket and his 38 Test hundreds are also a record. With Mathews at 37, it is unlikely that he will go on to break the milestone as he is over 4000 runs short, but the record could be broken by either Pathum Nissanka or Kamindu Mendis.

Pathum’s heroics in white ball cricket are all too known and there were those who had sidelined him from Tests saying he is more suited for limited overs cricket. Thankfully the current selection panel headed by Upul Chandana and Head Coach Sanath Jayasuriya brought him back into the fold and he’s been a revelation making a half-century in the first innings and an unbeaten hundred in the second innings that sealed Sri Lanka an eight wicket win.

On the other hand, Kamindu Mendis has been a superb find too. After an impressive half-century on debut, he was sidelined for two years but was brought back to the fold this year.

Kamindu started off by posting a hundred at Old Trafford and nearly scored a hundred in the next game at Lord’s before running out of partners. He ended the tour with a first innings half-century at The Oval and was named Player of the Series.

For a player who has come on his first tour to England, the maturity he has shown is amazing.

To score three centuries and four half-centuries in ten innings is quite remarkable and the good thing is that apart from one fifty, the rest of them have come at home. Kamindu is here to stay.

Milan Ratnayake was a surprise choice in the side and he impressed everyone with runs and wickets. The tall all-rounder contributed with 151 runs and produced ten wickets with his medium pace.

For a long time now, Sri Lanka have been searching for a seam bowling all-rounder and in Milan Ratnayake they may have found the answer.