When Sri Lanka Cricket first introduced the fitness test and made it compulsory to pass it for national selection, it deprived many talented players from getting selected to play for the country and that included Sri Lanka’s Player of the Series against Pakistan Prabath Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya could have easily made his Test debut last year in the home series against Bangladesh but he failed his skinfold test and that allowed another left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama to make his debut at Pallekele and cover himself with glory taking 11 wickets and bowling Sri Lanka to victory.

But as fate would have it, Jayawickrama and Jeffrey Vandersay were two of the spinners struck down by COVID-19 and one their replacements was Jayasuriya for the second Test against Australia at Galle. Jayasuriya grabbed that God-sent opportunity with both hands. He spun Australia to defeat going one better than Jayawickrama taking six wickets in each innings for a match bag of 12.

Since then Jayasuriya’s had a rollercoaster ride in his short Test career which has seen him take a stunning 29 wickets in his first three Tests which puts him equal second with Charlie Turner, a right-arm medium-fast bowler from Australia. The record stands with Indian leg-spinner Narendra Hirwani who took 31 wickets in his first three Tests.

“It’s been a tough journey. Coming to Colombo from Matale was a tough ask. I had to do everything on my own. You are all alone and finally you feel the pinch. I didn’t go to tell too many things to home but just kept it to myself and put my head down and played,” said Jayasuriya, who had his first schooling at Christchurch College, Matale before moving to Lumbini College, Colombo. 

“Dinesh Weerasinghe, I must thank him for taking me to Lumbini. Then I played for Colts and now for SSC. I had opportunities to go overseas and play but I wanted to stick around. My plan was to represent my country.”

Explaining the deliveries with which he has been successful, 30-year-old Jayasuriya said: “From schooldays I took wickets with my arm ball. I took 100 wickets in my last season. When the ball is turning, rather than getting wickets from the one that turns, you can take wickets with the straight one. When you spin the ball and create doubts for the batsmen, the straight ball comes in handy. It was proved today.”

“I am very pleased with the number of overs I am sending. The captain has faith in me and I hope I have delivered. Together with captain and coach we chatted about creating pressure. When you do that, you can take wickets. When you leak runs, it’s tough to keep things tight. I guess we did that well.” 

“I have played a lot with Dilruwan Perera. He has played a lot of international cricket and domestic cricket. I’ve learned a lot from him. He tells me how to handle situations. Those experiences helped, I guess. We have Tests only next year. Massive break. The domestic season is starting and we need to play in that. 

“Before I got to New Zealand, I intend to play in Australia. That’s the plan for now. It’s a challenge to play overseas. I have played in UK and Bangladesh. It’s tough and you need to get ready for that. You need to chat to seniors and chat to the coach and see how you can go about things.” (ST)

We are not a complete team yet: Head coach Chris Silverwood