Sports
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rain have the last say? Leaving a game that he has been involved in the middle for the past 15 years, was not an easy decision to make. Yet Jayasuriya, that hard nosed dasher from Matara, was prepared to face the reality. "I
have thought over the matter for some time and it was not very difficult
for me to take this decision. Simply because everybody has to make
this kind of decisions. I thought this is the best time to make
the decision and so I did." He said that he has never lost the interest in the game, which kept him motivated all the time, irrespective of test or one day cricket. “I always was proud of representing my country”, Jayasuriya has been playing well under pressure. Although he was little disappointed of not making a hundred on his 100th test match, is willing to give his best shot in Kandy. "It's not a matter of scoring a century. This is going to be my last test for my country and I must do the best I can" "I
have to play the way I have been playing. I don't like to change
my style and that's what I am going to do in my last test"
said Jayasuriya. The curator at Asgiriya Stadium, Lucky Abeyratne has kept a record of rainy days in Kandy for the last ten years. According to Abeyratne, it's going to be a rain effected match this time. "Genarally there is a three year cycle. In the year 2000, we had rain during this time of the year. In 2003 we had rain in the similar type and here we are in 2006. So we can expect evening showers" he warned. His words indicate that there is not going to be play in the all 15 sessions of a test match. If rain is to play spoil sport, there will be less number of overs out of the 450 overs normally bowled in a test match, despite 22 covers is used to cover the grounds. The
ground had been used for four inter school matches, including the
centenary big match between Kingswood and Dharmaraja, which was
played on the last weekend of March. Usually the ground is not given
to inter school or any other matches of that nature, immediately
prior to a test match. "In the first few hours, you'll have to keep your head down and play straight" added Abeyratne. The national curator Anurudda Polonnowita too was busy at Asgiriya Stadium yesterday. "We have had rain here in last three days and we might have to close the pitch around 3.30 or 4.00. When the wicket is closed, there'll be lot of moisture in the next morning and the pitch will seam a little bit" said Polonnowita. Sri Lanka hopes to bring back Nuwan Kulasekara, who played his only test against New Zealand a year ago at Napier. Kulasekara will come in place of Dilhara Fernando, who went wicketless in the last match on favorable conditions. Left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon has also been knocking on the door for a long time, since the Sri Lanka's tour of India, last year. He toured India and Bangladesh and carried drinks for six test matches without finding his name in the playing XI. However, his inclusion depends on weather conditions here while Chaminda Vaas is still not 100 per cent fit to play a test match. Star batsman Mohammed Yousuf is fit to play and Pakistan skipper Inzamam ul Haq seems to be happy over selections problems, especially when the young guns fire. "I am always happy when there is a problem in the selection because it means there is competition" said Inzamam. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Everyone's
attention will be focused on Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya, who
will be playing his farewell test at Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy, starting
tomorrow. Once tagged as the most feared batsman in world cricket,
the left handed dusky opener may find it hard to control his emotions
tomorrow but he has to face reality that finally has come his way.
