Sports
Prabath Jayasuriya – from unfit, overweight, lazy spinner to record breaker
by Rex Clementine
Last year when Lasith Embuldeniya was injured, Prabath Jayasuriya was next in line to make his Test debut against Bangladesh. The news was leaked that he had failed the two kilometer fitness test and had become ineligible for selections. The press went to town. Quietly, Prabath reached out to reporters to inform them that he had not failed the kilometer run, but in fact his skin folds were over the limit. He didn’t twist the knife in anger in telling reporters that they had got it totally wrong. He gently passed on what had taken place. The reporters had failed to adhere to Tyron Devotta’s golden rule in journalism, ‘check, double check and check again.’
Prabath was never able to fix his skinfolds problem. The selectors were on the war path. He was ineligible for selection. Their policy of our way or the highway had served little purpose with quite a few players quitting early. It was a crying shame as the likes of Dilruwan Perera and Thisara Perera had so much to offer the game.
Sometimes no matter how arrogant and resentful you are, there are forces that are more powerful than you. When COVID hit the Sri Lankan camp forcing the team to isolate four players, the selectors were left with Hobson’s choice but to turn back to Prabath Jayasuriya. Their much publicized fitness regime has become a laughing stock. It’s as good as Gota’s one country one law.
In the first Test, when the pitch offered much assistance for spinners, Lasith Embuldeniya and the rest were wayward. Sri Lanka suffered a heavy ten wicket defeat.
Jayasuriya is a veteran in First Class cricket. While among the left-arm spinners, the overwhelming favourite to make his debut in the second Test was Dunith Wellalage given his brilliant start in international cricket. But skipper Dimuth Karunaratne backed Jayasuriya as he knew that here was someone who could keep things tight.
That’s exactly what Jayasuriya did. Australia had swept and reverse swept to good effect in the first Test against the wayward Sri Lankan bowling. But when the bowling was accurate in the second Test, the sweep was going to backfire and it did. Jayasuriya finished with a new Sri Lankan record for best figures by a debutant in Test match cricket. His 12 for 177 is also now the fourth best figures in the history of Test match cricket. A remarkable achievement.
Many of our spinners be it Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath or even the great Muttiah Muralitharan have matured after 30 years. Age should not be a factor to determine whether a player is good enough to play at the highest level. Jayasuriya did it when chips were down and that too against world’s number one ranked team. You just get the feeling that he’s going to win you a lot more Test matches moving forward.
Pavan Rathnayake has re-entered Sri Lanka’s T20I squad following his 121 off 115 balls in the third ODI against England. Omitted from the squad to play England in three T20Is, however, are fast bowler Nuwan Thushara and batting allrounder Kamindu Mendis. Legspinner Dushan Hemantha has also been left out.
Left-arm-spinning allrounder Dunith Wellalage retains his place in the T20I squad, though he hasn’t played a T20I since September. Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga are the two other frontline spinners. Dhananjaya de Silva and Charith Asalanka – who both bowl fingerspin – are in the squad too.
On the seam-bowling front, Eshan Malinga and Pramod Madushan are in the squad, in addition to Dushmantha Chameera and Matheesha Pathirana. Thushara had been a consistent presence in Sri Lanka’s T20I squads over the past two years, but his omission comes after several modest performances since September.
Aside from Rathnayake’s inclusion, the batting is largely as expected, with Kusal Perera coming back in the only format he now plays.
Sri Lanka are yet to announce their squad for the T20 World Cup, which will start on February 7. Teams have time till January 31 to make changes to squads, following which they will have to get the approvals from the ICC to make changes.
Sri Lanka squad for England T20Is:
Dasun Shanaka (capt.), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana, Eshan Malinga
Australia Under 19s 314/7 in 50 overs (Oliver Peake 109, Nitesh Samuel 56; Jakeem Pollard 2-37, R’Jai Gittens 2-45) beat West Indies Under 19s 292/9 in 50 overs (Zachary Carter 64, Joshua Dorne 62; Charles Lachmund 4-66, Aryan Sharma 2-47) by 22 runs
Shiyam Dube hammered the third-fastest fifty by an Indian batter in T20Is, finishing with 65 off 23 balls, but it wasn’t enough as the New Zealand bowlers continued to chip away to register a 50-run win in the fourth T20I in Visakhapatnam.
New Zealand were lifted to a total of 215 with a power-packed fifty from Tim Seifert and a useful cameo in the death by Daryl Mitchell. It was an innings of three parts for New Zealand. They amassed 100 runs in the first 8.1 overs, lost 6 for 63 in the next eight and then smoked 47 in the last three to post their second-highest score in a T20I against India.
India then completely lost their way in the chase. Abhishek Sharma bagged a first-ball duck by slicing a high catch to Devon Conway at deep third. By the time 11 overs were done, India had slipped to 87 for 5, with the required rate rocketing to 14.33.
It was around this time that Dube took charge, with a 29-run over off Ish Sodhi before depositing Jacob Duffy for two more sixes to bring up a fifty in 15 balls. He was threatening to take the game away but was run out at the non-striker’s end off the bowler’s deflection, and India’s challenge ended as they were bowled out for 165 in 18.4 overs.
Mitchell Santner was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers, returning 3 for 26, while Jacob Duffy and Ish Sodhi picked up two wickets apiece. The series is now placed at 3-1 with a game to go.
Seifert was at his adventurous best in the powerplay as he came out swinging for the hills. Out of the first 12 balls of the innings, he faced 11 and thrashed them for 25. That included two leading edges over short third, and two boundaries in front of the wicket against Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, respectively. While Conway was initially subdued, managing 8 off 9 against the fast bowlers, he took down Ravi Bishnoi in the last over of the powerplay for two fours and a six. New Zealand racked up 71 in first six overs, their best powerplay against India in T20Is.
Once the field spread out and the spinners started operating, Seifert found it tougher to breach the gaps regularly. He had ransacked 46 runs in 21 balls in the powerplay, but managed just 16 of his next 15 balls. Conway, however, ensured the slowdown wasn’t apparent as he took on the spinners with authority. He slog-swept Kuldeep twice over deep midwicket before driving Bishnoi over the covers for four.
But once Conway fell carving Kuldeep to deep extra cover, New Zealand started to slip. Bumrah returned to nab Rachin Ravindra with a hard-length delivery for a simple return catch, while Arshdeep’s offcutter to Seifert couldn’t clear long-off. Glenn Phillips found the middle of the bat a few times but his innings was cut short when he chipped Kuldeep to long-on where Rinku Singh took the third of his four catches. While New Zealand were still maintaining an excellent scoring rate, they lost wickets regularly and when Mark Chapman fell at the start of the 16th over, it seemed like they would not get to 200.
Time and again, Mitchell has dragged New Zealand out of a hole and he was at it again. With the visitors 168 for 6 after 17, they needed a big finish. Zak Foulkes helped by sending Arshdeep for a four and six in the 18th over. Mitchell then took on Bumrah, thumping him for a four and six before Henry ended the over with a fortunate edge. Bumrah leaked 19 runs off the 19th, his second-costliest over in his T20I career. Rana then conceded 14 runs in the final over and New Zealand ended the innings on a high.
It’s been a feast or famine kind of a series for Abhishek and it was the latter this time with the opener falling for a golden duck. Suryakumar Kumar was squared up first ball and was nearly caught and bowled by Henry soon after, but didn’t last long. The lanky Duffy bent low in his follow-through to take a stunning catch as India slipped to 9 for 2 in two overs.
This was Sanju Samson’s chance to prove his worth but he fell short again. It was a weird start for him, where he was staying back to a lot of the full balls, almost pre-meditating the short delivery, with his feet stuck in the crease. He laced Sodhi through the covers and then whipped Duffy over deep midwicket in typical Samson style but was undone by Santner. He went back to a length ball that he should have ideally been forward for. The ball skidded through after pitching, and he almost played down the wrong line to be bowled for 24 off 15.
Hardik Pandya came and went and when Rinku fell after a sprightly 39, it seemed curtains for India’s chase.
Sodhi picked up Rana and Arshdeep in an over, before a mean Duffy bouncer had Kuldeep fending to Seifert as India were bowled out with eight balls left.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 215 for 7 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 62, Devon Conway 44, Glenn Phillips 24, Daryl Mitchell 39*, Mitchell Santner 11, Zak Foulkes 13; Arshdeep Singh 2-33, Jaspreet Bumrah 1-38, Ravu Bishnoi 1-49, Kuldeep Yadav 2-39) beat India 165 in 18.4 overs (Sanju Samson 24, Shivam Dube 65, Rinku Singh 39, Ravi Bishnoi 10*; Matt Henry 1-24, Mitchell Santner 3-26, Jacob Duffy 2-33, Zak Foulkes 1-29, Ish Sodhi 2-46) by 50 runs
[Cricinfo]
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