A humiliation at the hands of South Africa in the Cricket World Cup quarter-final was difficult enough to endure for Sri Lanka fans, but the realisation that Kumar Sangakkara had just played his last One Day International game and Mahela Jayawardene his last international game altogether made their exit from the World Cup all the more emotional.
The former has received plenty of tributes, including a few from this very website. However, though the latter’s departure from the international arena has not gone unnoticed, on browsing through Google News under Jayawardene’s name, it is surprising how few tributes been paid towards the 37-year-old.
The words “great” and “legend” are thrown around too liberally in the sporting world, but it is safe to say that Jayawardene deserves to go down in the annals as a legend not only of Sri Lankan cricket, but the sport as a whole. Few batsmen are able to maintain such a high level in test cricket for eighteen years; only six have scored more runs in the longest form of the game than the Sri Lankan stalwart.
Any batsman would be envious of his statistics. He has played 149 tests and is one of the nine batsmen to have scored over 11,000 test runs, as well as racking up a staggering 34 centuries. In his 448 ODI matches he has scored 12,650 runs and is the fifth highest in the all-time run scorer list, and has taken more catches than anyone in the history of the 50-over game. I wouldn’t bet against one of the big-hitters on display in the current edition of the tournament changing this, but he remains the only man to hit a century in both a semi-final and final of the Cricket World Cup. He was the first Sri Lankan to score a T20 International century, and the third person of any nationality to score a century in each of the three forms of the game.
Jayawardene has been an ever-present figure in Sri Lankan cricket this century. Whether it be a moment of heartbreak, like the four ODI and Twenty20 World Cup finals Sri Lanka have lost since 1996, or ecstasy, like their Twenty20 World Cup win in 2014, Jayawardene has always been involved in some shape or form.
It is impossible not to mention Kumar Sangakkara in conjunction with Mahela Jayawardene. Many of the latter’s individual records have already been outlined, but his achievements become all the more incredible when his performances alongside “the Shakespeare of cricket” are taken into consideration.
The two first batted together for Sri Lanka fourteen years ago, and have since scored a staggering 5890 runs together in test cricket—the most of any third wicket pair—and, in their 148 ODI partnerships, have scored 5969 runs in the shorter form of the game. The Sangakkara-Jayawardene pairing deserves to be remembered alongside Tendulkar and Dravid, Hobbs and Sutcliffe, Langer and Hayden and all the other famous batting partnerships as one of the most effective duos ever to grace the game.
Their most famous performance together came against South Africa in 2006. Colombo saw one of the most astonishing test matches ever witnessed and the two put on a scarcely believable 624 runs together—the highest partnership for any wicket in the history of test and first-class cricket. I remember being woken up to the news of their achievement. The thought of an entire team scoring 600 runs was impressive enough, but two batsmen scoring it on their own seemed impossible. The ability to concentrate for that amount of time and still perform at the level required is a trait very few humans will be able to even understand, let alone possess. Jayawardene himself scored 374 on that famous day, his highest score to date.
A man’s most important trait is his character, and Mahela’s is one to be admired. It is well documented that he is one of the nicest men in cricket, and it is always a pleasure to watch him being interviewed: calm, intelligent and kind, it is no surprise that he is as loved by journalists as he is his team-mates and opponents alike. Perhaps it may seem unjust that one cricket’s greatest and nicest ever players had such a disastrous send-off from the game, but even Sir Donald Bradman could not finish his career the way he wanted.
It is saddening to think that Sri Lankan cricket fans will never be able to witness a sumptuous cover drive from him ever again, in their colours at least. He has not been able to gain a place in the next Indian Premier League, a decision the teams in it may come to regret, but he will be representing Sussex for the first half of the Natwest T20 Blast. I for one will be taking every last opportunity to watch him bat with both hands.
