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Mahela falls 26 short of Lara’s 400, but managed to rewrite history with Sangakkara

By CricketFundas
for CricketFundas.com

Published: July 29, 2006

Related Links : Sri Lanka Vs South Africa : 1st Test

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!