The Asian Bradman

Cricket has a penchant for ridiculous nicknames. Ian Harvey, never more than a modest performer at international level, was dubbed The Freak, while Zaheer Abbas, who averaged 44.79 in Tests, became The Asian Bradman.

There's only ever been one freak, and that's Bradman himself. He averaged nearly 40 runs more per innings than Walter Hammond, Herbert Sutcliffe and George Headley, the other greats of his generation, a situation similar to what we might have seen had Bob Beamon jumped with the women at the 1968 Olympics [he leapt 8.90m, while the women's gold went to a Romanian who cleared 6.78m].

As for the Asian Bradman, there's only one man who can make such a lofty claim, and that too only at one venue. Mahela Jayawardene's love affair with the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground appears to be getting more ardent with each passing season. Thursday's 138 was his ninth hundred at the venue, equalling Bradman's tally at the MCG. It was also his fourth successive century on the turf where he plays his first-class cricket, an achievement that proved even beyond Bradman.

When a man has over 2000 Test runs at a ground, the least you can do as a fielding side is try and hold your catches. But India were in generous mood on the second day, spilling four chances, and the two reprieves that Jayawardene got proved especially costly.

He was on 55 when Dinesh Karthik grassed a bottom edge off Anil Kumble. Tough chance, you thought. But with Jayawardene on 93 and history about to be made, Kumble  pitched a leg break perfectly to take the outside edge. Karthik, too slow to get up from the crouch, didn't even manage to get gloves to it, and Kumble's yelp of frustration summed up India's day.

As did their failure to master the umpiring review system introduced in this Test match. It took 45.4 overs for the first instance to come about, but Harbhajan Singh's appeal against Malinda Warnapura was turned down. Late in the day, Harbhajan was in the action again, only this time the ball pitched outside leg stump and made the third umpire's job ridiculously easy.

In between those two decisions, Tillakaratne Dilshan became  the first batsman to successfully overturn a decision handed down against him. Mark Benson thought he had nicked one behind off Zaheer Khan, but with the bat hitting the ground almost at the same time as the ball flashed past the top edge, replays were inconclusive. With the rules not allowing the use of the Snickometer or the Hotspot, there was no way the third umpire could have ruled against the batsman.

At the end of it all, Sri Lanka are firmly in charge. Apart from Jayawardene's hundred, there was a second three-figure score in Tests for Malinda Warnapura, who cut and drove the ball with some fluency during his 115. The innings of the day though came from Thilan Samaraweera, who struck some peachy drives down the ground on his way to a 174-ball century.

Samaraweera credited the A team coach, Chandika Hathurasinghe, with the change in mindset and technique that has allowed him to score at the sort of rate expected in modern-day Test cricket. At the ripe old age of 32, he has reinvented himself, going from stonewaller to strokeplayer. Fair play to him.

Comments

[Som]

I thought the on-field umpires got all 3 referrals correct -- Benson was right in ruling Dilshan out -- which questions the very necessity of referrals.

Human errors are bound to happen occasionally and the only way to curb it is to remove the human factor altogether. ICC is phasing out umpires, I guess. But as long as they are not completely done away with, let's give the umpires some reasons to be there, apart from counting the marbles and double up us sweater hanger.

I'm not a fan of this referral system. It slows the flow, creates confusion and technology is not fully conclusive either. Why the fuss?

To err is human and efforts should be made only to ensure that it does not become a malady. Sad that even after 130 years of its existence, Test cricket has not learnt living with human errror.

[Pritam Sinha]

Well Bradman or Mahela against them, the lack of penetration from Indian bowlers generally and alertness from fielders is enough of a worry for cricket lovers like me. It is not the first time that it has happened nor will be the last, I guess. Putting efforts in spurts? like in T20? I am wondering aloud.