THE RECORD STAND

 

Image Credit- ESPN CricInfo.

Venue- Singhalese Sports Club, Colombo [July 2006].

In July 2006, South African Cricket Team toured Sri Lanka to play 2 test matches. The first test of the series took place in Singhalese Sports Club, Colombo. On a batting friendly wicket, South African Captain Ashwell Prince won the toss and elected to bat first. The Proteas started slowly and steadily. However, the Sri Lankan bowlers kept on picking wickets in regular intervals. Eventually the visitors were bowled out for 169 runs in their first innings. AB de Villiers was the leading run scorer for the Proteas as he scored 65 of 72 deliveries [8 Boundaries]. Apart from him no other South African batsman managed to score a 50. For Sri Lanka, Muralitharan and Fernando picked up 4 wickets each, whereas Maharoof took a couple of wickets. 

In response the Sri Lankans got the worst possible start as Dale Steyn dismissed both the openers in no time. The Sri Lankan scorecard read 14/2 and this is when Skipper Mahela Jayawardene joined Kumar Sangakkara on the crease. The game was on knife edge. It could have gone anywhere. However, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. 

Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene stitched together a massive partnership of 624 runs in 942 deliveries. The two batsmen literally annihilated the South African bowling line-up. They scored in all parts of the ground. Barring a few occasions, they did not give any chance to the South African bowlers. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that if we look into the nature of shots played during this partnership then we will find that it was just pure class, timing and finding of gaps. It was indeed a pleasure to watch them bat. The commentators ran out of superlatives to describe their partnership.

Kumar Sangakkara scored 287 of 457 deliveries. His innings consisted of 35 boundaries. Whereas Mahela Jayawardene scored 374 of 572 deliveries. His innings consisted of 43 boundaries and 1 six. The Sri Lankans eventually declared at a massive score of 756/5. 

It was certain that Proteas will not win this game. It was just about survival. The Proteas did give a fightback in the second innings. However, they struggled in front of legendary Muralitharan and were eventually bowled out for 434 in their second innings. The Hosts won the game by an innings and 153 runs. Mahela Jayawardene was awarded the man of the match award for his brilliant 374.

[Postscript- The Sri Lankans won the 2nd test by the barest of margins (1 wicket win). Mahela Jayawardene scored a hundred in second test as well. For this he was awarded the man of the match award. However, the player of the series award went to Muralitharan who picked up 22 wickets in just 2 games].

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