|
Mahela falls 26
short of Lara's 400, but managed to rewrite
history with Sangakkara |
July 29, 2006
 All
eyes were on Mahela Jayawardene during the Post
Tea Session of the 1st Test with Jayawardene
getting himself into a great position to beat
Brian Lara's 400 not out at the Sinhalese Sports
Club in Colombo. Most cricket followers were
feeling the heat whether Mahela could cross the
magical 400 or not. The conditions at SSC were
indeed hot and humid and it was already becoming
a superman-like effort from Mahela, he of course
was aided by the fact that the South Africans
pacers could hardly find any pace and bounce
from the wicket. However in the 74th over of the
day, Andre Nel produced a beautiful delivery
that nipped back and kept low to knock
Jayawardene's stumps down and with that the
heartbeat of many Sri Lankan fans. South
Africans celebrated as if they had won the Test
Match, but the Scorecard was showing that the
Lankans are 756 for 5! There was every reason
for the celebration for the South Africans and
Andre Nel in particular, as they avoided an
undesired world record against them. Mahela
Jayawardene was disappointed, but soon got over
it and was happy that he could make the fourth
highest Test Score ever with his 374, and he is
now the joint record holder with Kumar
Sangakkara for putting up the highest
partnership for any wicket in the history of
Test Cricket. The two stylish batsmen put up a
monstrous 624 runs which comfortably beat the
previous highest partnership of 576 between
Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama, which was
back in 1997 in this same city, but at a
different ground.
The third day's play at the SSC was all about
records and nothing much to do with the outcome
of the Test Match. Opportunities like this are
rare for cricketers and it is their right to go
for the records when there is every time in the
world in getting a result in the Test Match.
South Africa was shot out for just 169 in just
over 50 overs on Day 1, so that gave the Lankans
enough time to build up a huge first innings
score to set up the platform for an innings
victory. Sri Lanka didn't lose any wicket on Day
2 and with a total of 485 for 2, more than
enough damage was inflicted. But with plenty of
opportunities left in rewriting the history, the
focus was on breaking the records and both
batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene
concentrated on their mission. Fire crackers
exploded in the Stadium after lunch in the 145th
over of the innings when Mark Boucher couldn't
take a down the legs delivery from Nicky Boje to
give away four byes that took the partnership to
574, two runs more than the previous world
record. It was only after drinks in the post
lunch session that South Africa finally broke
the partnership with Andrew Hall inducing the
outside edge with his reverse swinging
outswinger to cut shot Sangakkara's innings to
287. South Africa took 160.3 overs to break this
3rd wicket partnership which was also a record
for the highest partnership in first class
cricket. Sangakkara had faced 457 deliveries
having been there in the middle for 675 minutes
and he did not have a single six in his innings
but could get 35 boundaries.
After Sangakkara's exit, Mahela Jayawardene then
got the company of Tillakaratne Dilshan for
sometime and then later by Chamara Kapugdera to
bat for 77 more minutes before his marathon
knock of 374 was ended by Nel. All in all,
Mahela Jayawardene's innings lasted 752 minutes
and he had faced 572 balls scoring 43 fours and
a six. Mahela declared the innings as and when
he got dismissed and South Africa had to face 14
overs before close of play with the deficit
being 587! The already jaded South African side
was without Herschelle Gibbs who did not come to
open the innings as he was down with fever and
in his place, Jacques Rudolph partnered Andrew
Hall. Both Hall and Rudolph showed great guts to
get over the tiring work in the field for the
last two and a half days to keep their wickets
intact to see SA safely to 37 for no loss. The
real test is on Day 4 for the South Africans as
Sri Lanka can have all the 10 fielders
surrounding the bat and have Muralitharan bowl
his wicked off breaks and doosras!
Top of the Page |
