Denagamage Proboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene, known as
Mahela Jayawardene (born 27 May 1977), is the former captain of the
Sri Lankan cricket team. He is a specialist
batsman who has a
Test average of over 50, and an
ODI average in the 30s. Despite his relatively low ODI average, Jayawardene is considered to be one of the best batsmen produced by Sri Lanka and is generally held in high regard as a legend of the modern game along with team-mate
Kumar Sangakkara. In 2006, he was named by the
International Cricket Council as the best international captain of the year and he was nominated in 2007 as the best Test cricket player of the year. He is also known for his fielding skills in the inner ring, with a report prepared by
Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the
1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the fifth highest run-out/match ratio in ODI's.
[1] Statistics also reveal that
c Jayawardene b Muralitharan is the most common bowler-fielder combination in the history of Test cricket.
Jayawardene led Sri Lanka to Pakistan for a Test series in March – April 2009. The series was conducted after the Indian team withdrew from playing in Pakistan, following the
November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The first Test ended in a draw. Even though he scored a double century in the first Test, Jayawardene was to resign from captaincy after the second Test in the series. Sri Lanka was in a good position in the Test with
Thilan Samaraweera hitting his second successive double hundred of the series and
Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring a century. On their way to the
Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play, the bus that carried the Sri Lankan players was fired at by 12 masked gunmen. Jayawardene, along with six other Sri Lankan cricketers sustained injuries. Six policemen that guarded the bus and two civilians were killed in the attack.
[2] He currently plays for the Kochi IPL Team
[3]
Career
Early and domestic career
Jayawardene was educated at one of the leading schools in Sri Lanka,
Nalanda College Colombo. It was there that he learned to play cricket. He developed his talents through the school cricket team, eventually becoming captain. He was runner-up for the best schoolboy cricketer award during the 1994 cricketing season.
Domestically he has played for
Sinhalese Sports Club since 1995. He was signed to play as an overseas player for
Derbyshire for the first half of the 2008 English cricket season. However, his commitments to Sri Lanka and involvement in the
Indian Premier League prevented him from playing any part in the 2008 county season.
[4]
International career
Mahela Jayawardene is the 69th Sri Lanka Test Cap [Sri Lanka Vs India at Colombo 1997]. Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against
India at R.P.S.,
Colombo. Jayawardene added 66 to Sri Lanka's first innings score of 952/6, the highest Test score ever. He was at the crease when the previous highest Test score was surpassed. Early in his career he scored 167 against
New Zealand and 242 against India.
Jayawardene's
One Day International debut was against
Zimbabwe at
Premadasa in January 1998. Sri Lanka won the match, with Jayawardene hitting the winning run. In the next game Jayawardene scored 74. It took only 11 matches before he scored his first century, which was against
England in the
Carlton and United World Series game at
Adelaide. Jayawardene entered a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4 in the run chase, but made an innings of 120 runs to win the match. The match is notable for
Ross Emerson's no-balling of
Muttiah Muralitharan for
throwing, which led the Sri Lankan captain
Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team to the edge of the field and consider walking out of the match, as well as physical shoulder-barging by some players.
Jayawardene was captain during the England tour in 2006 in the absence of
Marvan Atapattu. He led his team to 1–1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic whitewash (5–0) in the ODI series.
Jayawardene batting in a Test match for Sri Lanka in 2008
In the first Test of the 2006 Test series against South Africa, Jayawardene shared a world record stand of 624 with
Kumar Sangakkara. This partnership, the highest for any wicket in first-class cricket history, and the first instance of a stand of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings, smashed the previous third wicket stance for Sri Lanka, surpassing 262 which involved himself along with
Thilan Samaraweera. It also broke the previous record for the third wicket for all Test playing nations surpassing the 467 run partnership made by the New Zealand's
Martin Crowe and
Andrew Jones.
Jayawardene became the first Sri-Lankan captain to score a Test triple-century, making 374 off 572 deliveries with 43 fours and 1 six, the fourth highest individual score in Test match cricket and the best by a right-hander. He is also the first batsman to pass 350 in a Test without going on to break the world record. He also surpassed the highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test match, previously
Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 in 1997 against India, coincedentally also produced in a
world record partnership.
He was also chosen as a
Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2007. In the
2007 Cricket World Cup, Jayawardene hit one century and four half-centuries and was the second highest run-scorer in the list topped by Australia's
Matthew Hayden. His century, which came against New Zealand helped Sri Lanka win the Semi-Final. Sri Lanka finished runners-up in the World Cup losing to
Australia in the Final.
He has scored centuries against all Test-playing nations. He achieved this feat on the 21 st of February 2009 by scoring his maiden Test century against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan.
Mahela is the Recipient of International Cricket Council's "Captain of the Year 2006" inaugural award, Captain of the "World One-Day International Team of the Year 2006", Captain of the "Spirit of Cricket Award 2007" Team, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2007, Record holder for the highest score (374 runs) by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket. He retired from the captaincy due to lack of form and politics in the board.
However, he regained some form during the
IPL 2010. Before starting their chase of 201 runs against
Kolkata Knight Riders, Jayawardene expressed his desire to open the innings to captain
Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara agreed to his fellow countrymate and Jayawardene scored a blazing 110* off just 59 balls winning them the match in the second last over. Sangakkara, impressed my his teammate set him as opener for the Kings XI Punjab. He scored a few more entertaining knocks in vain including 44 against
Rajasthan Royals and 93* against
Deccan Chargers. He ended the tournament with an average of 43.90. He was the 6th highest run scorer for the tournament and highest for the
Kings XI Punjab.
With
Kumar Sangakkara as the Sri Lankan Captain too, Jaywardene was sent as opener for the
2010 ICC World Twenty20. In the first match against New Zealand, he scored 81 off just 51 balls. However, this knock went in vain due to the collapse in the Sri Lankan batting line-up after his wicket fell which resulted in a total of only 135 on board batting first. However, in his very next match against Zimbabwe, he scored 100 of just 64 balls helping them win the match helping them win the match defending a total of 173. He thus became the 4th player to get a century in an International Twenty20 Game and the first Sri Lankan to do so. Sri Lanka won the match by
D/L method. In the very next match against West Indies, he scored 98* off just 56 balls narrowly missing his second century in a row. This became his third consecutive score above 80.
Personal life
Mahela was born to Sunila and Senerath Jayawardene at
Colombo in 1977. He had one younger brother, Dhishal who died of a
brain tumour, aged 16. This affected Jayawardene psychologically, halting his cricket career for some time. Eventually he was persuaded to go on and set about rebuilding his career by his parents and teammates.
He is married to Christina Mallika Sirisena, a travel consultant.
Off the field, he has won praise for his personal contribution to the
HOPE cancer project.
[5] With memories of Dhishal in mind, he became the leading campaigner of HOPE. Now, with the support of his team-mates, he aims to build a new 750-bed cancer unit at
Maharagama, the country's only dedicated cancer hospital.
Player Statistics
Career Performance
An innings-by-innings breakdown of Jayawardene's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).
Test performance against each opponent
As of 05 December 2010:
Opponent | Matches | Innings | Not out | Runs | High Score | 100 | 50 | Average |
Australia | 10 | 18 | 0 | 581 | 104 | 1 | 1 | 32.27 |
Bangladesh | 11 | 14 | 1 | 860 | 166 | 4 | 1 | 65.54 |
England | 16 | 27 | 3 | 1581 | 213* | 6 | 7 | 65.87 |
India | 18 | 28 | 1 | 1822 | 275 | 6 | 8 | 67.48 |
New Zealand | 11 | 19 | 1 | 928 | 167 | 3 | 5 | 51.55 |
Pakistan | 18 | 34 | 2 | 1115 | 240 | 1 | 7 | 34.84 |
South Africa | 12 | 22 | 1 | 1472 | 374 | 5 | 2 | 70.09 |
West Indies | 12 | 18 | 1 | 748 | 136 | 1 | 4 | 44.00 |
Zimbabwe | 8 | 10 | 3 | 420 | 100* | 1 | 3 | 60.00 |
TOTAL | 116 | 90 | 13 | 9527 | 374 | 28 | 38 | 53.82 |
Centuries
Awards
Test Cricket – Man of the Series awards
- In this table Ct., refers to the Catches and St. refers to the Stumping
Test Cricket – Man of the match awards
- In this table Ct., refers to the Catches and St. refers to the Stumping
One-Day International Cricket – Man of the series awards
One-Day International Cricket – Man of the Match Awards
|
| Runs | Against | City/Country | Venue | Result | Year |
[1] | 120 | England | Adelaide, Australia | Adelaide Oval | won by 1 wicket | 1999 |
[2] | 101 | Pakistan | Visakhapatnam, India | Indira Priyadarshini Stadium | won by 12 runs | 1999 |
[3] | 101* | England | Colombo, Sri Lanka | R. Premadasa Stadium | won by 66 runs | 2001 |
[4] | 116 | New Zealand | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | Sharjah C.A. Stadium | won by 106 runs | 2001 |
[5] | 63 | Zimbabwe | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | Sharjah C.A. Stadium | won by 79 runs | 2001 |
[6] | 96 | Zimbabwe | Colombo, Sri Lanka | R. Premadasa Stadium | won by 59 runs | 2001 |
[7] | 106* | West Indies | Kandy, Sri Lanka | Asgiriya Stadium | won by 8 wickets | 2001 |
[8] | 94* | India | Dambulla, Sri Lanka | Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium | won by 4 wickets | 2005 |
[9] | 83 | India | Colombo, Sri Lanka | R. Premadasa Stadium | won by 18 runs | 2005 |
[10] | 50 | Bangladesh | Colombo, Sri Lanka | Sinhalese Sports Club Ground | won by 88 runs | 2005 |
[11] | 126* | England | Chester-le-Street, England | Riverside Ground | won by 8 wickets | 2006 |
[12] | 100 | England | Manchester, England | Old Trafford | won by 33 runs | 2006 |
[13] | 115 | New Zealand | Jamaica, West Indies | Sabina Park | won by 81 runs | 2007 (World Cup Semi Final |
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