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NEWS India-South Africa-Sri Lanka Tri Series 2006>Mahela Jayawardene – so near yet so far 01st Aug 2006 21.32 IST By Manish Kumar On Saturday in the first Test against South Africa , Mahela de Silva Jayawardene came very close to breaking Brian Lara ’s record of 400 runs and in the process shared a world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakarra . Though he could not break Lara’s record, Jayawardene became the first Sri-Lankan captain to score a Test triple-century, making a superb 374 runs off 572 deliveries with 43 fours and 1 six, the fourth highest score in Test cricket.
The partnership between Jayawardene and Sangakarra is the highest for any wicket in first-class cricket history, and the first instance of a stand of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings, smashed the previous third wicket stance for Sri Lanka, surpassing 262 which involved Jayawardene himself along with Thilan Samaraweera . It also broke the previous record for the third wicket for all Test playing nations surpassing the 467 run partnership made by the New Zealand pair of Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones, which came in 1991 against Sri Lanka. And those who have followed Jayawardene’s career over the years aren’t surprised at the big scores he has amassed recently specially after taking on the captaincy of the Sri Lankan team. Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India at Colombo, in which Jayasuriya smashed that massive score of 340. Jayawardene added 66 to the mammoth Sri Lankan score of 952/6 – the highest ever Test score and was at the crease when they surpassed the previous highest Test score. Jayawardene soon developed an appetite for big scores, with scores like the 167 against New Zealand and the brilliant 242 against India. Jayawardene’s ODI debut was against Zimbabwe at Colombo in January 1998. Sri Lanka won the match, with Jayawardene hitting the winning run. In his second game, he scored a 74 against Zimbabwe. It took only 11 matches before Jayawardene scored his ODI first century, which was against England at Adelaide – the match in which Mutiah Muralitharan was repeatedly called by Umpire Roy Emerson for chucking. Jayawardene entered a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4. The 21-year-old Sri Lankan, managed to post a scintillating 120 runs to win the match. Jayawardene was recently appointed captain during the England tour in the absence of an injured Marvan Samson Attapatu . Leading by example by rattling one big score after another, Jayawardene led his team to 1-1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series. Jayawardene is perhaps in the form of his life with staggering scores in both forms of the game behind him and this spells nothing but danger for India with the Tri-Series starting in Sri Lanka in two weeks’ time. The most technically accomplished batsman in the side, Jayawardene has emerged as Sri Lanka's most consistent run scorer and his mature approach has made him a fixture in the middle order and his appetite for runs shows no sing of abating. Jayawardene is also a highly effective performer in one-day cricket with the ability to suit the tempo of his innings to the demands of any situation. Jayawardene has always been compared as the next Aravinda De Silva of Sri Lanka and so far he has lived to that expectations, but he will definitely regret missing Lara’s record. Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa-Sri Lanka Tri Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: Sri Lanka | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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