June 2006: Leading by example

At the end of May, Sri Lanka were one-nil down to England, and only bad light and butterfingers had prevented England from having the Test series sewn up before June began. The pre-tour predicitions of dissection by swing and seam looked accurate. Then came Trent Bridge, and the Murali show. Then there were the ODIs…

Yes, England were below par, Bresnan-Mahmood-Plunkett-Dalrymple is a bowling attack more likely to cause wet dreams than sleepless nights, and Kabir Ali did his level best to steal Mick Lewis’ economy records – but a whitewash is nevertheless a whitewash and beneath every coat of paint there lies a primer.

Jayawardene had already demonstrated his worth with the bat before the Third Test – where he was unlucky to catch a pair of unplayable deliveries from Flintoff and Plunkett – before Muttiah Muralitharan called his eight-wicket tune. With Murali’s young son in hospital, the tourists had to face the one-dayers without their talisman. It didn’t matter.

After starting with just 24 at Lord’s, the Sri Lankan skipper exploded into life, grabbing the series by the throat – his side asserting its dominance, and England unable to find any way to negate the man himself. It took a mix-up between the wickets to remove him at the Oval, before the hosts wilted in the face of an unbeaten 126 at Chester-le-Street, following it up with an 82-ball century at Old Trafford.

England finally found a way to keep him out of the scorebook in the final clash at Headingley, but it was only through seeing Sanath Jayasuriya – winding back the years to the tune of a 99-ball 152 – and his padawan Upul Tharanga adding the small matter of 286 for the first wicket. The skipper was left to make just twelve as Sri Lanka chased 322 with the small matter of 12.3 overs remaining. From being whipping boys, Jayawardene’s men were now dealing out the beatings, and the captain had been the catalyst.

Jayawardene hasn’t been the only skipper to lead from the front this month – Rahul Dravid’s India owed their skipper a giant debt after his twin fifties at Sabina Park stood tall over the other batsmen’s frailties, exposed this time by Jerome Taylor and Corey Collymore, whilst Anil Kumble showed his experience to average 26 with the bat and 28 with the ball.

We knew Dravid could make runs for all seasons, however. For Jayawardene, the “English spring” box remained unchecked – until this month.

Cricket Web Player of the Month
June 2006

Mahela Jayawardene