Honours and awards won by our former national cricketers
In the not too past cricket history of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, Dr. C.H. Gunasekera (more about him soon for the unique record he holds), the flamboyant M. Sathasivam, the solid ‘Sargo’ Jayawickrema, F.C. de Saram, Stanley Jayasinghe, and last not least Michael Tissera et al adorned our national cricket history. As the years rolled by the – comparatively – younger generation took over the mantle. Names such as old Anandian, left-hand batsman Arjuna Ranatunga who played for the national team whilst in school.
Nalandians, Stanley Jayasinghe, Ashley de Silva and Carl Obeysekera, of the era in the early 1950s,also represented the national team whilst in school, and not forgetting the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas of a much later era spring to mind. Then came the more modern generation. Sadly the cricketing media now reports that the standard of school cricket seem to have slumped – the reason being the modern coach only wants to win at all cost and not bothered to help the young generation to take the next step to be fit for international cricket. Maybe academic work also must be taking a fair bit of time in the rat race students are now hell bent on.
Take the case of Kumar Sangakkara. I can still recall visiting my good friend D.H. de Silva’s residence in Melbourne, and he showed me a framed photo of Sangakkara and that of his sister, each holding a tennis racquet. Obviously the siblings were being coached by ‘DH’ to play tennis!
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara, born in Matale on 27 October 1977, was an outstanding national-level left-handed batsman/cum wicket-keeper who amassed 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats of the game in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket and sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket – no mean achievements!
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2012, and was selected as the Leading cricketer of the Year in 2012 and 2015 by the prestigious Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, an award usually reserved for one year/per player, thus becoming only the second player to win the award twice.
Sangakkara was a wicket-keeper for many years in his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest to various run-milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara’s partnership with Mahela Jayawardene holds the current batting highest partnership record in Test cricket (624) and the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and featured in many awards in World Test and ODI cricket during his career. He was selected as the Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. Sangakkara won the Man of the Match in the finals of 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped the team win Sri Lanka the title.
In 2019, he was appointed to the role of President of the Marylebone Cricket Club – MCC – the first non-Britisher to hold this position since the club was founded in 1787. Additionally he was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the entire cricketing community.
Little wonder the MCC invited him to be their President. One does not need be an Einstein what the next step in the ladder of cricket holds for Sangakkara in the near future. As Sri Lankans, let us wish Sangakkara a bright and successful future.