Sanath Jayasuriya

One of the world's most uncompromising strikers of the ball, Jayasuriya found belated fame as a pinch-hitter at the 1996 World Cup, and then demonstrated that he was also capable of massive scoring in Tests, eventually becoming Sri Lanka's highest Test run-scorer. He remains dizzily dangerous, especially on the subcontinent's slower, less bouncy surfaces. Short in stature and powerfully built, he cuts and pulls with awesome power, and his brutal bat-wielding is at odds with his shy, gentle nature. Wised-up opponents have learned to set traps in the gully and at third man to stem the flow of runs, but on song he can be virtually unstoppable, capable of scoring freely on both sides of the wicket. Jayasuriya is also an extremely effective and canny left-arm spinner, especially in one-day internationals where his stock leg-stump darts are mixed up with clever variations in pace. Jayasuriya served commendably as Sri Lanka's captain for a successful tenure after the sacking of Arjuna Ranatunga in 1999. His leadership style was consensual in comparison to the Napoleon approach adopted by Ranatunga, and he soon built a happy and unified team. The huge responsibility of leading the team, though, started to show and by the 2003 World Cup, after a myriad of off-field controversies, it was clear that he had become a reluctant captain. He eventually resigned in April 2003. Having stepped down, his position in the side was more vigorously debated and a one-day slump prompted several pundits to call time on his career. But Jayasuriya was far from finished, and he bounced back in 2004 with his most prolific year in Test cricket since 1997. The year included a blazing second-innings century against Australia at Kandy that nearly levelled the series and a marathon double-hundred against Pakistan at Faisalabad. Twin centuries followed during the Asia Cup 2004 and his form was impressive enough for Somerset to sign him up for a season of County Cricket in 2005. And in the Indian Oil Cup in 2005, Jayasuriya became only the fourth batsman to get to 10,000 runs in one-day cricket. He retired in 2006, only to almost immediately retract his decision. After behind-the-scenes machinations which hinted at internal power struggles between board and coach, he was shoehorned into the squad for the Test series in England but did not play. He bounced back in typical form, however, in the one-day series that followed, showing he has a few more miles left on the clock. The 2007 World Cup could provide a fitting send-off for one of the game's great one-day players.

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