Sanath Jayasuriya no longer a part of Lankan contract list
Sanath Jayasuriya, one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of cricket has received another setback.
The 41-year old cricketer was not included in the list of twenty players who have been offered central contracts for the current year by the Sri Lankan selection committee. Jayasuriya who had held spectators spell-bound in the past with his thundering batting performances is struggling with his form for some time now.
He had an average of less than three runs in the last six T20 matches he played. His feeble performance in the Indian Premier League this year also disappointed the fans.
At this stage, the contract with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Worcestershire-c866 in English T20 season seems to be the only blessing in disguise for the legendary cricketer.
Despite his present poor form, Jayasuriya’s illustrious career cannot be ignored. He made his entry into the international cricket arena back in 1989 and since then brought many laurels for the team and himself. He is the only player to score more than 13,000 runs and at the same time pick up 300 wickets in the ODI cricket.
In a cricketing career stretching over two decades, Jayasuriya has an overall strike rate of 90-plus. Apart from his batting, Jayasuriya created magic with his bowling too as he has picked up 332 wickets in One Day International matches, including four five-wickets haul. At the age of 39 years, he became the oldest batsman to hit a century in international cricket. Reminds one of a Duracell battery!
During the 1996 World Cup, Jayasuriya introduced a new tactic of smashing the opening bowlers by firing shots in every direction. His strategy as an opening batsman was to take advantage of the fielding restrictions in the initial overs, thus building pressure on the bowlers from the beginning of the innings itself. This idea helped Sri Lanka emerge as the champions in the series and later became the game plan adopted by every team. It takes a genius to devise a plan that changes the course of a game forever.
Jayasuriya had retired from Test cricket in 2007. In his last Test match against England, Jayasuriya hit six fours in an over thus ending his career in style. He had expressed his desire to play till World Cup 2011 before bidding farewell to the ODIs. However it seems that the batsman has lost his status as an aggressor and is struggling to get his strokes off the 30-yard circle.
The chairman of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758’s selectors Aravinda de Silva said that after having a discussion with the players, selectors and team management it was decided to reduce the number of national contracts from existing 30 to 20. He believes that this step will add some sort of elitism to the status of national contracted players. He further clarified that all the contracts have been made keeping in view the performances of the players in the previous year and Jayasuiya has been dropped because of his lack of runs in the shorter formats of the game. De Silva hoped that county cricket in England will help Jayasuriya regain his lost magic.
The selectors have put Sri Lanka’s star bowlers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Chaminda-Vaas-c1223 in the premium category of the contract list. De Silva said that the selectors still trust them to make it to the Sri Lanka’s World Cup 2011 squad.
In an attempt to encourage budding players, selectors have included the offie, Suraj Randiv and wicket-keeper-batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dinesh-c54134 Chandimal in the central contract, but given them a lower grade.
The senior players Kumar Sangakkara, Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera have all made it to the top category.
This is the first time since the contract system was introduced that Jayasuriya is not a member of it.
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