Mendis and Madushka receive plaudits from the captain

Top performers with the bat Nishan Madushka (left) and Kusal Mendis

Top performer with the ball Prabath Jayasuriya

Dimuth Karunaratne had an excellent series with the bat and as a leader

Following a tough two-Test series in New Zealand where Sri Lanka narrowly lost the first Test off the last ball of the match by two wickets and then the second Test by an innings, the recently concluded series against Test minnows at home was just the antidote they needed to inject some life into their cricket, especially the batting.

There were no less than eight centuries scored in the two Tests played at Galle which included two double tons off the bats of Player of the Series Kusal Mendis and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne’s new opening partner Nishan Madushka. Mendis and Karunaratne were the recipients of back-to-back centuries having scored one in each of the two Tests.

In the limited number of Tests Sri Lanka are scheduled to play for the entire year – six, this series was the best opportunity for the players to capitalise and make full use of the opportunities that came their way to enhance their career performances and like Karunaratne said “it was a good confidence booster”.

Like we pointed out in an earlier article it seems that Kusal Mendis has arrived and a lot more runs can be expected off his bat in the near future.

“Kusal has rendered yeoman service to Sri Lanka cricket. What was missing from him was big innings. He has shown it in the last two Test innings (scoring 140 and a career best 245),” said Karunaratne of his top batsman. “I hope he will make it a habit and continue to score regularly. It is not easy for a player who plays in all three formats to adjust to them immediately. He is now an experienced cricketer, and he is able to make the changes without much difficulty. I hope that he will be successful in the future.”

Apart from Mendis the other batsman to impress was 23-year-old right-handed top order batsman Nishan Madushka. What a year it has been for this youngster from Moratuwa. He began the 2022-23 season by becoming the quickest to reach 1000 runs in a Sri Lankan first-class season, getting there in the least number of innings – nine. It included a century in each innings of a match for Ragama CC to start with and a further three hundreds that included a triple century. He followed this up with scores of 150*, 1 & 241, 22 & 100 against England Lions, performances that won him a place in the national side for the tour to New Zealand, where he broke into the Test ranks and made his Test debut in the second Test and wicket-keeper/batsman batting lower down the order at 8 and 7. Come the Ireland series and Madushka promoted to open the innings made maximum use of it to carve out a magnificent double century and establish himself as Karunaratne’s opening partner. They put on a record-breaking opening stand of 228 which was a ground record for Galle. While Karunaratne was dismissed for 15, Madushka went on to make a memorable 205.

“I see Nishan Madushka as a very well-organised player. He knows what his game is, when to hit the ball, which ball to play and to what situations he must play. He has an uncomplicated and simple plan,” said Karunaratne. “I like it if he could keep it simple. He has made big scores before 300 and all that and he has the habit of doing that. It is only at international level he had not done so. From the start he went on to make big innings which I think will be good for his career. He knows how to compile a double century and from there learn how to make big scores. He is a player with a long career ahead of him.”