Information About

Mahela Jayawardene




  Nationality Sri Lanka
  Country Sri Lankan
  Country Abbrev SL
  Name Mahela Jayawardene
  Picture Cricket_no_picpng
  Batting Style Right-hand bat
  Bowling Style Right-arm medium
  Balls true
  Tests 77
  Test Runs 5491
  Test Bat Avg 4774
  Test 100s/50s 13/28
  Test Top Score 242
  Test Overs 458
  Test Wickets 4
  Test Bowl Avg 5700
  Test 5s -
  Test 10s -
  Test Best Bowling 2/32
  Test Catches/stumpings 101/-
  ODIs 213
  ODI Runs 5555
  ODI Bat Avg 3120
  ODI 100s/50s 6/33
  ODI Top Score 128
  ODI Overs 568
  ODI Wickets 7
  ODI Bowl Avg 7700
  ODI 5s -
  ODI 10s -
  ODI Best Bowling 2/56
  ODI Catches/stumpings 106/-
  Date 31 March
  Year 2006


Mahela Jayawardene, born 27 May , 1977 , is the vice captain of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team . He is a specialist Batsman who has a Test average close to 50, and an ODI average in the 30s.


CRICKET CAREER


Jayawardene made his Test debut in the record breaking Test in 1997 against India at R.P.S., Colombo . Mahela Jayawardene added 66 to the massive score. That same match, Sanath Jayasuriya played a man of the match performance with a score of 340. Sri Lanka ended up scoring 952/6, the highest ever Test score. Jayawardene was at the crease when they surpassed the previous highest Test score. Jayawardene apparently developed an appetite for big scores, with scores like the 167 against New Zealand and the brilliant 242 against India.

His One Day International debut was against Zimbabwe at Premadasa in January 1998 . They won the match, with Jayawardene hitting the winning run. In his second game, Jayawardene scored a 74 against Zimbabwe. It took only 11 matches before he scored his first century, which was against England in the Carlton and United World Series game at Adelaide . Jayawardene entered a pressure situation, with Sri Lanka struggling at 134/4. The 21 year old Sri Lankan, managed to post a scintillating 120 runs to win the match.


OFF THE FIELD


Off the field, he has won great admiration for his huge personal contribution to the HOPE Cancer Project . His cricketing career ground to a halt in the most tragic of circumstances, when a Brain Tumour claimed the life of his younger brother Dhishal, who was just 16 at the time. At the time, Mahela was captain of his school team and gave up cricket for six month. Eventually he was persuaded to go on and set about to rebuild his career. With memories of Dhishal in mind, he became the leading campaigner of HOPE. Now, with the support of his team-mates, he aims to build a new 750-bed cancer unit at Maharagama , the country's only dedicated Cancer Hospital. Jayawardene has much cricket left in him, and it is likely that when the time comes, he will take over as captain of Sri Lanka. In the mean time, his fans expect to enjoy seeing additions to his 6 ODI centuries, and his 13 Test centuries.


QUOTE


''“There is so much uncertainty in cricket. One day you can get a hundred, the next day you can be dismissed for a zero. It makes you become practical about things. Teaches you to accept both success and failure. I think I have learnt a lot about life from cricket.”'' -Mahela Jayawardene


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