Top Spin By Suni

August 30th 2014

Just recently, prior to his recall into the Sri Lankan ODI squad  there were news reports that Thisara Perera Sri Lanka’s brilliant allrounder was contemplating retirement from the international game and what an opportune thing it seems to be for Sri Lanka that he was talked out of it ( It has been learned that the President was his most compelling influence to change his mind ~ Thank you Mr President!) and that he proved his mettle whilst contributing to the manner Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan in the ODI Series after overwhelming them in the previously concluded two Test Series where perhaps Thisara’s inclusion may have been meritworthy where he was unaccountably excluded from other series’ also,  despite the opinions of certain big wigs within the Board who may disagree that it seems a cardinal error to have left out someone of his performance capabilities.
 
And there is sufficient reason to believe that it is indeed the choices and inopportune decision making of these same persona within the SL Cricket Board selection committee that may have denied Thisara’a inclusion for the South African Tour of Lanka which may have had quite a different peerspective to what transpired in the end and somewhat demoralising for the Sri Lanka cricketers as well as their huge following of fans as they returned to the drawing board  somewhat dejected after resounding losses to the Proteas.
 
Perhaps it is time appropriate to acknowledge the brilliance of this young and dynamic cricketer whose place in the Squad needs to be assured as this is a brilliant match winner whose records and stats alone are a testimony towards his capabilities and how invaluable a player he could prove to be as Sri Lanka moves towards the next World Cup in 2015.
 
Thisara despite  his brilliance and fiery nature on the playing field is a soft spoken, gentle giant off it and loved by all who know him. A brillianr product of St Josephs College, Maradana alongside his captain Angelo Mathews the other brilliant Joe in the side and someone who fully deserves all the acollades and awards where hopefully his presence in the Sri Lankas squad will serve the country well for many years to come.
Bravo Thisara !
 
The Following Stats are through the  courtesy of UPI and Cricinfo :
 
Thisara Perera – 79 matches, nine MoM awards Stats highlights from the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Dambulla, which Sri Lanka dominated from start to finish to set up one of their most convincing wins

8 The number of times Pakistan have been bowled out for less than 102, which was their total against Sri Lanka in Dambulla. One of those eight scores was against Sri Lanka, when they were bowled out for 75 in Lahore in 2009, after Sri Lanka had scored 309.

1 The number of times Pakistan have been bowled out for less than 102 after winning the toss and choosing to bat first, as they did in Dambulla. The only such instance was against West Indies in a Benson & Hedges World Series game in Brisbane in 1993, when Pakistan were bowled out for 71 in 23.4 overs. West Indies chased down that score with 30.4 overs to spare.

9 The number of Man-of-the-Match awards for Perera in 79 ODIs, of which four have been against Pakistan. He is already 11th among Sri Lankans with the most such awards. Both his Man-of-the-Series awards have been against Pakistan.

Highest frequency of MoM awards  (min. 50 ODIs)

178 The number of balls that were remaining when Sri Lanka knocked off the target. Only six times have Pakistan lost an ODI by a bigger margin, in terms of balls remaining. Their largest such defeat was against West Indies in 1993, again, this time in Cape Town in a triangular tournament. They were bowled out for 43, their lowest ODI score, and West Indies knocked off the runs in 12.3 overs. Sri Lanka have won an ODI with more balls to spare on 13 occasions, but it was their biggest such win against Pakistan.

15-5 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record in ODIs in 2014. They’ve won series against Bangladesh, Ireland, England and Pakistan – apart from winning the Asia Cup – and lost a series only to South Africa.

26 Sharjeel Khan’s highest score in his last ten ODI innings, during which period he has scored 133 runs at an average of 13.30. In his first ODI innings he scored 61.

106 Fawad Alam’s batting average since his return to the ODI team. In five innings he has notched up scores of 74, 114*, 62, 30 and 38* – 318 runs at a strike rate of 84.12.

103 The number of ODI wickets for Thisara Perera, which makes him the 14th Sri Lankan to make it to the 100-wicket club in this format. Twenty-nine of those wickets have come in 18 matches against Pakistan, at an average of 24.27. At home, he has taken 55 wickets in 32 games at an average of 19.25; overseas, he has 48 wickets in 47 matches at 34.72.

40 The number of 50-plus scores for Tillakaratne Dilshan in ODIs since the beginning of 2009, which is the third highest, after Kumar Sangakkara (52) and Virat Kohli (48). In 134 ODI innings during this period, Dilshan has scored 5478 runs at an average of 45.65.