The best of Mahela Jayawardene: His top innings

Mahela Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene celebrates his century against England at Lord’s in 2006.

To celebrate Sri Lanka great Mahela Jayawardene’s 43rd birthday (May 27), the ICC shortlisted eight of his best Test innings and asked fans to vote for their favourite.

Jayawardene is the owner of many Sri Lankan batting records. In an international career spanning 149 Tests over 17 years, he accrued 11,814 runs with 34 centuries, figures surpassed only by Kumar Sangakkara among Sri Lankans. Jayawardene holds the record for the highest score by a Sri Lankan – his majestic 374 in 2006.

Of his many great innings, the ICC picked out eight truly special ones. One of those innings will be crowned the best based on fans’ votes.

123 v South Africa, Colombo (PSS), 2006:

This knock is right up there with some of the finest fourth-innings efforts in the history of Test cricket. On a wearing Colombo surface, Jayawardene showed his mastery against the spinning ball in compiling an essay of 123 runs. He was dismissed, the seventh wicket to fall, with 11 runs still left to get for Sri Lanka to pull off the 352-run chase against an attack featuring Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock and Nicky Boje. Sri Lanka got home with just a wicket to spare.

“By far this was one of the best Test matches I have been involved in. I’ve lost a few hairs on my head and a couple of nails.”

180 v England, Galle, 2012:

Sri Lanka’s top order looked a touch out of sorts in the first Test of the 2012 series. James Anderson was getting a bit of movement in the air and Sri Lanka had been reduced to 15/3. But Jayawardene looked imperious from the word go. He batted with hallmark fluency despite his partners falling in regular succession at the other end, and finished with a fine 180 in Sri Lanka’s total of 318. That knock proved to be the difference between victory and defeat as Sri Lanka went on to win by 75 runs.

Even Anderson, who finished with a five-for that innings, couldn’t contain his awe. “It’s one of the better Test innings I’ve seen, considering no one else got much above 20,” he said after the game. “He had the knack of knowing when to go for a big shot and when to grind it out a bit.”

374 v South Africa, Colombo, 2006:

This was the innings in which Jayawardene rewrote the record books both individually and as part of a partnership with Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene’s mammoth effort featured 43 strokes to the boundary and one over it, and the innings is the fourth-highest knock of all time. Together with Sangakkara, he forged a 624-run partnership, which is the highest in the history of first-class cricket. Sri Lanka finished with an imposing 756/5 declared and went on to win by an innings and 153 runs.

167 v New Zealand, Galle, 1998:

Of the 30 wickets that fell in the match, the best score after Jayawardene’s was a modest 53 from Nathan Astle and no other batsman crossed fifty. On an evidently tricky surface, a 21-year-old Jayawardene demonstrated his innate brilliance against spin bowling to bat Sri Lanka to an innings victory.

119 v England, Lord’s, 2006:

Jayawardene led from the front in Sri Lanka’s stellar fightback to escape with a draw after having been made to follow on. He scored a gritty 61 in Sri Lanka’s first-innings total of 192 and followed that up with a remarkable 119 in the second innings. His effort – his second ton at Lord’s in as many matches – was key in denying England victory.

167 v South Africa, Galle, 2000:

This was an especially fluent innings from the right-hander. He struck 22 fours and two sixes in his 288-ball stay and powered the hosts to an imposing 522. That innings helped set up an innings victory.

237 v South Africa, Galle, 2004:

Another Jayawardene classic against South Africa, a side against whom he averaged a whopping 57.48, courtesy of six tons from just 17 innings against them. Here, on a good batting surface, Jayawardene milked runs and scored almost half the runs in Sri Lanka’s total of 486.

275 v India, Ahmedabad, 2009:

After India stacked up 426 on a featherbed, Sri Lanka needed a strong response. Jayawardene delivered more than just that. He composed a steady innings of 275 to help Sri Lanka declare at 760/7, enabling his side to dream of a maiden victory on Indian soil. India were able to bat out the draw quite comfortably, but that doesn’t diminish Jayawardene’s fine effort. – ICC