Hopps on Kumar Sangakkara and the Wisden Cricketers of the Year 2012

David Hopps in cric info

When Kumar Sangakkara challenged Sri Lanka’s political establishment during the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s last summer, it came as no surprise. His powerful intellect comes with an impulsive nature and a principled belief in right and wrong; his strong sense of national identity carries with it an idealism about how his country should develop after its long terrorist war. The lecture provided a platform to examine the ethics of Sri Lankan cricket; scribbling his speech in spare moments during the England tour, he did not waste his opportunity.

“Writing that speech became a deep personal experience,” says Sangakkara. “I knew there were ways it could be misinterpreted, but it was a story I felt I needed to tell. I was greatly moved by the response, especially in Sri Lanka, where many people seemed to identify with what I was saying.”

Sangakkara credits Ian Healy with his imporvements as keeper, while at event inspiring young kids in Bangalore

Item in The Nation

Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara on Thursday expressed happiness on being named Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world and one of its five cricketers of the year.  “It’s a great honour. Very humbled and privileged. I have had a good year in 2011. Hopefully, I will have a couple of more fruitful years before I finish,” Sangakkara, the captain of the IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, told reporters here at an event.
Sangakkara said that Australian cricketer Ian Healy’s advice on wicket-keeping helped him a lot.  “When I started, I wasn’t a natural wicketkeeper but it was a case of making sure that you went and spoke to the right people. I have been to a few wicket-keeping coaches. Sometimes, they confused me more than actually teaching me something.

Evaluating Rangana Herath with Plaudits – Rex and Scyld

The Lessons We could learn from Herath –Rex Clementine in The Island, 31 March 2012

The country’s one of the most respected cricketers, Kumar Sangakkara once called Rangana Herath ‘the work horse’ of the team. Now that he has emerged as country’s premier bowler, we should talk about his other virtues as well and how tough the rise for him has been having represented two unfashionable entities – Maliyadeva Vidyalaya and Moors SC. (Only two seasons back he left Moors after an association of 14 years after the club got demoted).

Loyalty and perseverance are two virtues of Herath that we should admire. Although HeThe rath made his debut in 1999, opportunities were rare for him due to the presence of champion Muttiah Muralitharan and Sri Lanka always had Sanath Jayasuriya to bowl a bit of left-arm spin.

But occasionally Herath was used in Test cricket, particularly against Pakistan once John Dyson developed this idea that Pakistan were in fact susceptible against left-arm spin.

Mahela and Kumar: Two Kings bearing Gifts

Steve Brown

More than 250 people attended the Knox Tavern recently for the fundraiser in aid of the Foundation of Goodness, the special guests being Sri Lankan superstars Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who hold the world record for any wicket in Test match history and responsible for in excess of 45,000 international runs.

The evening was hosted by well-known cricket author, the quick whited Gideon Haigh who created plenty humour and friendly banter.    Following a video presentation of the achievements and work of the Foundation of Goodness in Sri Lanka, post tsunami, founder of the charity, Kushil Gunasekera, thanked everyone for their attendance,

Cricket Australia’s Chairman, Wally Edwards, Cricket Victoria CEO Tony Dodemaide, both former Australian Test players and Sri Lankan Cricket Foundation of Victoria Chairman, Dr Quintus DeZylva were also present, lending their support.

Sangakkara addressed the audience first and he opened his innings by promising not to speak for one hour and ten minutes as he did in his address to the MCC at Lords in London last year. A polished performer, those in the room would not have minded if he broke his promise as he had the audience in his hands, with a personal plea for compassion in regards to the village of Seenigama, and for the new projects in the war torn north of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Kohlied, pulverized and pickled at Hobart

When Sri Lanka accumulated 321 runs after being put into bat at Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Their followers would have been well-pleased, as indeed I was. But Sri Lanka had chased around 310 runs twice in South Africa and the wicket was clearly a feather-bed. Moreover, when Sangakkara was interviewed between innings,he remarked that Sanath and Tharanga had led a chase for some 325 runs in an ODI match in England and Sri Lanka had reached the target in 36 overs. This remark suggests that Sri Lanka were not complacent.

India reached the imposing target in just that — 36 overs. The Sri Lankan skipper and team were simply steamrollered and eviscerated by all the batsmen and by Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina in particular. It was a brilliant display, a set of gems for connoisseurs.

Any lessons? I broach one. On feather bed wickets pack your team with more spinners and/or bowlers with guile.

 Pic by Getty

A Statisical Summary with a Focus on Kohli, by Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan, courtesy of cricinfoESPN

• Kohli scored his ninth ODI century and his second against Sri Lanka. It is also his sixth century in ODI chases. Kohli’s strike rate of 154.65 is the third-highest for an Indian batsman in an ODI chase(centuries only) after Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Azharuddin.
• * The run-rate during the century stand between Kohli and Suresh Raina (13.56) is the highest ever for India for a 100-plus partnership in ODIs, and the highest against major Test teams. The highest overall is 17.73 during the 136-run stand between Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan against USA in 2004. *Gautam Gambhir and Kohli were involved in their fifth century stand in ODI chases. In the second innings (min. 1000 partnership runs), the pair averages the highest (75.33). *Lasith Malinga conceded over 90 runs for the first time in his ODI career. His economy rateof 12.52 is the highest in ODIs for a minimum of five overs.

Sangakkara: “Age is no criteria for selection”

Courtesy of IANS, 13 February 2012

Former Sri Lanka captain and senior batsman Kumar Sangakkara Monday came out in defence of India’s ageing players Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid contending that age cannot be a criterion for selection. Sangakkara, on the eve of their ODI against India here Tuesday, said it will be hard to ever underestimate the influence of Tendulkar and Dravid in the dressing room.

“Sachin and Dravid have been amazing players. They still are. If you take Dravid’s England tour, it was amazing. Three centuries and he carried the whole batting on his shoulders. Sachin is still scoring runs and is a valuable player,” Sangakkara told reporters at the Adelaide Oval.

Sangakkara said players don’t become great overnight. “Great players are there for a reason. Being able to do what is expected of them. That is why everyone expects everything from people like Sachin. They know they can do it, they have done it before, and everyone knows they can do it again,” he said.

Unpaid Underrated Sri Lankan Cricketers stuff up the Wessels prediction

AP News Item, courtesy of The Australian, 31 December 2011, where it bore a different title

FOR the first time since Muttiah Muralidaran retired, Sri Lanka has finally won a Test. It did it convincingly, by more than 200 runs, and in a country where it had never won in the long format before. There’s life for Sri Lanka after the great man Murali. Thursday’s 208-run win was not just a breakthrough in South Africa, it was a turning point for Sri Lankan cricket after 18 months of misery. For 15 matches Sri Lanka foundered in Tests, going winless since record-breaking bowler Muralidaran said farewell to the five-day game with a 67th five-for haul in a 10-wicket victory over India in July last year.

Lessons learnt from the Australian and English cricket series for Sri Lanka

Ravi Ladduwahetty,  in the Island, 14 October 2011

The Sri Lankan cricket team will be very disappointed that it lost the Test and the One Day International Series to Michael Clarke’s Australians. If one were to critically analyse it,Sri Lankawill also be disappointed that the batsmen did not have any solutions to the disciplined bowling attack of the Australians, especially the seamers. Special mention should be made of Ryan Harris and it was he who kept it very simple. He kept the deliveries outside the off stump, got the Sri Lankans to play those swung that away from both the right and left handers.

The Galle wicket for the first Test was prepared to suit spinners. Australian skipper Michael Clarke, walked up to the media box and said that he wished he could bat on that track. What he said by innuendo was that the wicket was very dry and that the side that batted last was going to have a torrid time. In all due fairness to Clarke, it was a pitch that was difficult to bat on. That held true withAustralia, still one of the best batting line-ups, was against what was a very mediocre Sri Lankan bowling attack. But the rider is thatSri Lankadid not have Muttiah Muralitheran and Chaminda Vaas who have retired and Lasith Malinga, who does not want to play Test cricket. So,Sri Lankadid not have the depth in bowling and was struggling on a dry track.

Tom Moody reviews Sri Lankan Cricket Scene

From SKYNEWS at http://www.skynews.com.au/sport/article.aspx?id=662380&vId=

Sri Lanka haven’t won a Test since Muttiah Muralidaran retired back in July last year, a run stretching over 10 matches following the draw with Australia in Kandy. The game’s administration in the country is also struggling, a permanent replacement is yet to be appointed for former coach Trevor Bayliss. The Australian departed following April’s World Cup, before the country’s sports minister dissolved the cricket administration in July amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement, while rumours continued to circulate about players who were unsure of new captain Tillakaratne Dilshan’s leadership qualities.

But former Australian Test player Moody, who coached Sri Lanka from 2005-07, believes getting past the departure of retired greats like Muralidaran, fast bowler Chaminda Vaas and batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will be the nation’s biggest challenge.

Sanga bowls us over

Peter Roebuck, in cricinfo,

Kumar Sangakkara counts among the most polished and prudent of batsmen. Nothing catches the eye about his work except its consistency and efficiency. Although he pulls and cuts efficiently and often, and uses his feet to spinners purposefully, and though he added 624 in an innings with Mahela Jayawardene once, there is something understated and underappreciated about his batting. Perhaps it is that he does not breathe fire, or not often, or withdraw into a cocoon or attack without mercy or resist obstinately or change tempo obviously or grit teeth anxiously or in any other way engage spectators and take them on the journey with him.

Rather, he gets on with the job in a determined, restrained and mostly amiable way. However, character is not to be confused with personality. It takes a lot of courage and commitment to maintain a high standard for a long period, to endure many upheavals and to be a regular in all forms of the game. He has out-stared many bowlers, survived many crises and always retained his educated equanimity. Not even the gunmen in Lahore could put him off his game. Afterwards he said that his country, too, had its troubles and that he would happily come back. Such men are born to bat at first wicket down.

Sanga’s character exists not so much on the outside as within. It is not colour he seeks so much as conquest, not passion so much as purity. At times he resembles a businessman going about his duties – the focus on the bottom line, reckless risks disdained. He is professional as opposed to combative, trusting training more than instinct, research more than hunches. In a way it limited his captaincy – Jayawardene reads the game better because he has less faith in reason. Sanga’s focus is not so much upon the performance as on the task and the career. Cricket called him, challenged him, even though his head was full of literature, even though he had many safer alternatives. He had to make it work. His ruthlessness comes from this need to succeed.