Jayasuriya attains highest ICC Test bowling rankings; gets praise from Captain

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Prabath Jayasuriya is quite a distance away from being rated a first-rate left-arm spinner in the calibre of legendary Rangana Herath, but he is certainly making a lot of progress towards attaining that goal.

Following his match bag of eight wickets (3/67 and 5/107) in the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the SSC grounds on Monday which helped Sri Lanka win by ten wickets, Jayasuriya moved three places up the ICC Men’s Test Bowling ranks to a career best sixth position.

At the same time his Captain Dhananjaya de Silva heaped praise on him calling Jayasuriya the main spinner in his team. 

“Prabath has won a lot of matches for us within a short period of time. We expect him to perform similarly in the future as well. But there can be times where he may not be as successful, then it is the turn of the other spinners to put their hands up and do the job for us,” said De Silva after Jayasuriya was named Player of the Match.

In fact Sri Lanka went into the Test match with a three-man pace attack which meant that Jayasuriya was the sole spinner. The SSC pitch, unlike the pitches at Galle which assists spinners, was a flat surface and the bowlers had to bend their backs and toil hard to get wickets. Nevertheless, Jayasuriya was all praise for it. He reeled off 25 overs in the first innings and 47 in the second

“If you take our Test calendar for this year we are playing a lot of matches outside Sri Lanka. The chances of getting a helpful pitch for spinners is less,” said Jayasuriya. “This was a good opportunity for us to bowl on a flat wicket like the SSC. There is a lot to learn when you are a Test cricketer. Playing a Test match is not easy, you have to play for five days and you need a lot of patience. If we play more matches on this type of surface we will develop our skills.”

“When you come up against a pitch like this you need to bowl with a lot of discipline. If you try to experiment too much, the batsman will try to take advantage of you. After that they will not allow you to come back into the game. We should know from the beginning how to set up the batsman, have a plan before you come to the match and then execute it in the middle.”

This is the first time in his career that Jayasuriya has taken a five-fer in an innings outside Galle. His six previous five-fer returns have all been at the Galle Cricket Stadium which is a haven for spinners.

With Sri Lanka scheduled to play a three-Test series in England in August-September and 2 Tests in South Africa in November-December, Jayasuriya said he has plans of going ahead of the England tour and playing in their domestic tournaments to get used to the conditions and pitches.

Being a member of the SSC, Jayasuriya admitted that playing at this venue was advantageous to him because it was his home club and that he has bowled on similar surfaces before.

One of the key factors of Jayasuriya’s success is his ability to put the ball in one spot continuously and make the batsman play at almost each and every delivery.

“When I practice I do it properly, that is what is so special. I always try to learn something new. There is no point in just playing a match or practicing, you must always try to learn something. If you can learn even one percent that’s what takes you ahead in your career.”

Jayasuriya is the second fastest to 50 Test wickets having got there in seven Tests and currently enjoys a healthy average of 26.17 for his 67 wickets taken in 10 Tests. 

“I rate Sadeera’s (Samarawickrama) catch off Rahmat (Shah) as a special wicket in my career. It ranks as one of the best catches taken off my bowling.” Wicket-keeper Samarawickrama showed exceptional anticipation to catch Rahmat for 91 as he went for a paddle sweep in the first innings.