Mahela Jayawardena's profile

Mahela Jayawardena | Fan-Pro

Sri Lanka's all time leading Test run scorer

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Mahela Jayawardena's exciting arrival in 1997 heralded the start of a new era for Sri Lanka's middle order. Perhaps mindful of his first Test, when he went out to bat against India at Colombo in 1997 with the scoreboard reading 790 for 4, he soon developed an appetite for big scores. His 66 then was followed by a masterful 167 on a Galle minefield versus New Zealand in his fourth match. A marathon 242 against India followed in his seventh Test.

He has since become Sri Lanka's leading run scorer in Test cricket and one of the finest batsmen in world cricket during the past decade, consistently averaging over fifty with a reputation for scoring big double hundreds. Indeed, his marathon 374 against South Africa in 2006 is the highest score by a Sri Lankan. During the same innings he shared a world record partnership of 624 with team-mate and friend Kumar Sangakkara.

His career reached new heights in 2006 when he was named captain and he guided Sri Lanka to a 1-1 Test draw and 5-0 one-day whitewash against England. Test victories against South Africa, England and India followed and in 2006/7 he was adjudged the ICC Captain of Year. He later led Sri Lanka to the finals of the 2007 World Cup and won the Asia Cup in 2008.

Off the field, he has won great admiration for his huge personal contribution to the HOPE cancer project and other charitable and environmental causes. In February 2009, he announced his resignation as captain, saying the time was right for fresh leadership to take over.

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A historical but tough tour awaits more.. less..

Mahela Jayawardena 5 months, 13 days ago Cricket 1,526 4

Arrived in Sydney on Monday and flew into Canberra the following morning, where we play our one and only warm-up match against the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI commencing tomorrow. Touring Australia in their season is one of the highlights of the cricketing… continue...