Jayawardene - a class act

[Burgey]

I thought that the way Jayawardene carried himself and represented his country in yesterday's final was first class.

He showed great leadership and common sense in the way he dealt with the fiasco at the end of the game by quickly reaching an agreement with Ponting about the final three overs to avoid even more gloss being taken off the Aussies win by having to come back the next day.

Inadvertantly, he also saved the ICC a lot of face. Imagine if he and Ponting accepted that they had to come back next day, then an hour later the officials eventually get it right and tell an empty ground that the WC had already been won.

Well done to him - a class act as a player and a leader SL can be proud of. Pity the administrators couldn't have shown the common sense he did.

 

[pasag]

Yeah agreed, the whole side is a class act really.

 

[Flem274*]

Even though I felt like ripping his guts out after that semi he is definitely a good cricketer and cricket needs more skippers like him.

 

[shehanwije]

Yes, Mahela is def. a class act. Seems comfortable in his skin, again!. He is an attacking captain, but lost some of his gut feel instincts whilst he had a temp loss of form. Glad that he is back to his best. Sanga, Moody and Mahela formed a very close clique as the brains trust for the past year in SL cricket. They have done well.

 

[chaminda_00]

Could potentially be the best captain we have ever had. Still got some improvement to get ahead of Ranatunga, but his that far behind IMO.

 

[Francis]

Normally I don't respond to threads like these but upon re-viewing Jayawardene's courtesy at the end of the final, the thread is very much merrited. He was a brilliant sportsman. In fact all the Lankans were magnificent in defeat, with Jayasuria taking some time out to talk to McGrath and congratulate him. I can't see many captains being as graceful as Jayawardene.

I was over at Muralifans.com and the headlines read something like "Australia and duck-lewis win world cup." You'd hear nothing like that from Jayasuria. It would be ever so easy to blame the darkness on their loss, I probably would have had a whinge if I were captain. He didn't, instead he told it like it was, saying because of Gilchrist they were constantly chasing and it eventually caught up with him.

Incredible to see such sportsmanship. Watching it makes you wish Sri Lanka won the world cup.

I see Tom Moody is being less gracious, though you'd have a hard time calling him a bad sport. It's true that when Jayasuria and Sangakara got going, Sri lanka were closing in on the gap. But once Jayasuria went out that was it. And the truth is, while they were chasing the gap, they'd be chasing the whole time until the end since Gilchrist put it that far away from them.

 

[Langeveldt]

Yeah Jayawardene seems like a top act.. I've never taken much of an interest in him, but the fact that he doesn't court the headlines all the time is probably a very good thing.. Sounds like a top guy..

 

[Hoppy1987]

Class, Pure Class, and Top Bloke!

 

[Ikki]

I wanted to make a thread like this. Bloke is all class, same with most the Sri Lankans.

 

[sideshowtim]

It's amazing how much better he is than Ranatunga. Ranatungas side was one of the worst side of sportsmen in living history, and he trained them to be that way. Jayawardene and his magnificent monobrow however are magnificent sportsmen. A class act all the way.

 

[Sanz]

Ranatungas side was one of the worst side of sportsmen in living history, and he trained them to be that way.

Really ? I can understand it about Ranatunga, but others I am not so sure, considering Vaas, Murali, Sanath, Jayawardhne all were part of Ranatunga led squad at some point in their careers.

 

[STRAIGHT BREAKS]

This is the reason I wanted the Lankans to win it, they are just nicer people.

They aren't bullies who do things like clearly yell "F OFF" as Michael Clarke did after bowling his second victim, for instance.

 

[Richard]

It's amazing how much better he is than Ranatunga. Ranatungas side was one of the worst side of sportsmen in living history, and he trained them to be that way.

Pure nonsense.

 

[legglancer12]

It's amazing how much better he is than Ranatunga. Ranatungas side was one of the worst side of sportsmen in living history, and he trained them to be that way. Jayawardene and his magnificent monobrow however are magnificent sportsmen. A class act all the way.

When Jayawardena's Brother died of Cancer Jayawardena gave up playing cricket ..... saying that he's Brother was a better cricketer than him. It was Ranatunga who Coaxed him to come to his club and practice and showed him consolation. Ranatunga was one of the best captains of the subcontinant ..... after Imran.

 

[shehanwije]

When Jayawardena's Brother died of Cancer Jayawardena gave up playing cricket ..... saying that he's Brother was a better cricketer than him. It was Ranatunga who Coaxed him to come to his club and practice and showed him consolation. Ranatunga was one of the best captains of the subcontinant ..... after Imran.

Ranatunga's skill and reputation as a captain is directly proportional to how many Aussies still hate him - many years after he retired. Whilst I do not agree with everything he did, Arjuna did stand up to the Aussies and gave it back....and won SL a world cup, against the odds.

Mahela is tactically almost as good as Arjuna, but has probably got better soft skills required from a modern captain.

 

[JASON]

Ranatunga's skill and reputation as a captain is directly proportional to how many Aussies still hate him - many years after he retired. Whilst I do not agree with everything he did, Arjuna did stand up to the Aussies and gave it back....and won SL a world cup, against the odds.

Mahela is tactically almost as good as Arjuna, but has probably got better soft skills required from a modern captain.

I agree .Arjuna is Savvy , tactically brillant Captain, who made the others listen to him and as a result - regardless of whether people liked him or not they were scared to do anything that would upset him... Ponting is in a similar mould...He snaps at Umpires like Arjuna, he snaps at opposition Captains, snaps at opposition players ...Others may not like him but they are scared to upset him or do anything that would put his Team in a wrong footing...

Take for example the Final, if Ranatunga was SL Captain...he would've made sure the game started an hour earlier than it did...he would've snapped at Umpires and referee regarding the number of overs they cramped in despite the time lost and he would've ensured his Team did not suffer adversely during Rain during play etc...

So IMHO, Mahela is a nice guy, very polite and all that...But he is not a savvy or shrewd Captain in the Ranatunga /Ponting Mould... And I am starting to think someone like Sangakkara has that ability more than Mahela...as much as I like Mahela , after the Final, I think SL needs a loud , sharp and Savvy Captain , not a friendly polite , yes man.

 

[Richard]

Ranatunga's skill and reputation as a captain is directly proportional to how many Aussies still hate him - many years after he retired. Whilst I do not agree with everything he did, Arjuna did stand up to the Aussies and gave it back....and won SL a world cup, against the odds.

Exactly.

And it's this that grates with *certain* Aussies. Not anywhere near all, of course.

 

[Matt79]

Yeah, Mahela's a class act, that's for sure. The sportsmanship from the Lankans was fantastic all day. You hate to imagine the shambles that would have occurred had it been another team in the situation that SL were put into.

Power to him - I hope the guys do well. Really looking forward to them touring Australia later this year. SL are pretty much my favourite "2nd team" after their performance at this world cup.

And its not just Jayawardena either. I mentioned it in the "Final" thread, but Sangakkara impressed me by immediately indicating he did NOT take that catch - not quite the same as Gilchrist walking in the 2003 WC, but an action in the same vein and his actions, without any hesitation on his part, showed he's a good sport.

 

[Trigger_Tiger]

.....

Just how this SL team respect the oppositions is enough for me to have tremendous respect for them. Soft-spoken, yet on the field, they're all action and no rubbish.
While more captains around the wolrd are becoming the "all-talk-and-rubbish-play" kind, it is Mahela alone who I see different from the rest.

Let me bar Ponting or any Aussie captain from the "all-talk-andrubbish-play" kind becuase I think the Aussies are the only team who deserve to talk as much as they do, because they talk, and they prove their worth!

That being said, I couldn't be any happier to have Sri Lanka be the other finalist instead of any other team.....thoroughly professional and deservant of the spot !

IMO, this is how the ICC team rankings should stand for 2007:

1. Australia
2. Sri Lanka <-----The position they should hold!
3. New Zealand
4. South Africa
5. West Indies
6. England
7. Pakistan
8. Bangladesh
9. India
10. Ireland
11. Kenya
12. Zimbabwe

 

[shehanwije]

Let me bar Ponting or any Aussie captain from the "all-talk-andrubbish-play" kind becuase I think the Aussies are the only team who deserve to talk as much as they do, because they talk, and they prove their worth!

Except when they lose! Who can forget the now immortalised quote from Mcgrath ahead of the '05 Ashes. "I normally would say 3-0, but bcos its going to be a dry summer, I will call it 5-0 to us" What a plonker!

Generally, its better to focus on the game and leave the trash talk until afterwards. Teams are too professional these days to let it get to them...except, of course, if you are Kallis.