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Asian Tribune is published by World Institute For Asian Studies|Powered by WIAS Vol. 12 No. 423

Mahela Jayewardene-the Best Test Captain in Subcontinent

Fri, 2012-06-29 04:16 — editor

By Nalin Abeysekera
Colombo, 29 June, (Asiantribune.com):

Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan by 209 runs in first Test at Galle in last Monday(25th June 2012). This win is important as Sri Lanka have not won a Test series since defeating New Zealand 2-0 at home in August 2009 and have struggled to make an impact after champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan quit the five-day format in 2010.

And this victory has been recorded as their largest win over Pakistan as well. Sri Lanka played first ever test match against England under the captaincy of Bandula Warnapura in 1982 February.

This is the 30th year of celebrations of proud test history of Sri Lanka.

Below table depicts the winning and losing percentage of captains of Sri Lanka. Furthermore the captains who contributed to Sri Lankan cricket before getting the test status also should be remembered.

Table one –Test Captains for Sri Lanka

 

Player

First Match

Last Match

Tests

Won

Lost

Drawn

1

Warnapura, B

17/02/1982

17/09/1982

4

0 (0.00%)

3 (75.00%)

1 (25.00%)

2

Mendis, L R D

14/03/1982

16/04/1987

19

2 (10.53%)

8 (42.11%)

9 (47.37%)

3

De Silva, D S

04/03/1983

11/03/1983

2

0 (0.00%)

2 (100.00%)

0 (0.00%)

4

Madugalle, R S

12/02/1988

25/08/1988

2

0 (0.00%)

2 (100.00%)

0 (0.00%)

5

Ranatunga, A

08/12/1989

24/02/1999

56

12 (21.43%)

19 (33.93%)

25 (44.64%)

6

de Silva, P A

22/08/1991

12/03/1999

6

0 (0.00%)

4 (66.67%)

2 (33.33%)

7

Tillakaratne, H P

04/03/1999

24/03/2004

11

1 (9.09%)

4 (36.36%)

6 (54.55%)

8

Jayasuriya, S T

09/09/1999

08/11/2002

38

18 (47.37%)

12 (31.58%)

8 (21.05%)

9

Atapattu, M S

15/11/2002

18/12/2005

18

8 (44.44%)

6 (33.33%)

4 (22.22%)

10

Jayawardene, D P M

28/02/2006

22/06/2012

31

17 (54.84%)

8 (25.81%)

6 (19.35%)

11

Sangakkara, K C

04/07/2009

16/06/2011

15

5 (33.33%)

3 (20.00%)

7 (46.67%)

12

Dilshan, T M

26/05/2011

03/01/2012

11

1 (9.09%)

5 (45.45%)

5 (45.45%)


Source-http://www.howstat.com.au

Arjuna Ranatunga can be considered as the player who captained most test matches for Sri Lanka. He has captained 56 matches followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (38 matches) and Mahela Jayawardene (31 matches).

Jayasuriya is the captain who has brought more wins for Sri Lanka(18) followed by Mahela(17) and Arjuna(12).But more importantly Mahela Jayawardene (the captain of Sri Lanka at the moment) is the player how has best winning average(55%) than any other captains. Up to now Mahela has captained the side for 31 matches and manage to win 17.In terms of “percentages” Jayasuriya has been ranked as number two(47%) and Marvan Atttapattu is in the third place(44%).

The performance of Mahela is even better than Hahendra Singh Dhoni(India’s best test captain up to now from the players who captained more than 30 test matches) who has the winning percentage of forty six percent(46%).Even it is the best if you compare with the captains of Pakistan as well.

In the classification of “captaining more than 30 matches” Javed Miandad is the only captain who reach to a percentage of more than forty(41.18%) .So Mahela is the only captain in subcontinent who has pass fifty percent (50%) in wining test matches.

If you compare this achievement with the world statistics, Sri Lankan current captain is only behind to Steve Waugh(Australia-72%),Ricky Ponting(Australia-62%) and Mike Brearley(England-58%) in terms of winning percentages..This is from the players who has captained the side for more than 30 matches(see following table).

Table two- Captaincy Performances - Minimum 30 Tests

Player

Country

Career

Tests

Won

Lost

Drawn

Border, A R

Australia

1978-1994

93

32 (34.41%)

22 (23.66%)

38 (40.86%)

Smith, G C

South Africa

2002-

91

42 (46.15%)

26 (28.57%)

23 (25.27%)

Fleming, S P

New Zealand

1994-2008

80

28 (35.00%)

27 (33.75%)

25 (31.25%)

Ponting, R T

Australia

1995-

77

48 (62.34%)

16 (20.78%)

13 (16.88%)

Lloyd, C H

West Indies

1966-1984

74

36 (48.65%)

12 (16.22%)

26 (35.14%)

Waugh, S R

Australia

1985-2004

57

41 (71.93%)

9 (15.79%)

7 (12.28%)

Ranatunga, A

Sri Lanka

1982-2000

56

12 (21.43%)

19 (33.93%)

25 (44.64%)

Atherton, M A

England

1989-2001

54

13 (24.07%)

21 (38.89%)

20 (37.04%)

Cronje, W J

South Africa

1992-2000

53

27 (50.94%)

11 (20.75%)

15 (28.30%)

Vaughan, M P

England

1999-2008

51

26 (50.98%)

11 (21.57%)

14 (27.45%)

Richards, I V A

West Indies

1974-1991

50

27 (54.00%)

8 (16.00%)

15 (30.00%)

Taylor, M A

Australia

1989-1999

50

26 (52.00%)

13 (26.00%)

11 (22.00%)

Ganguly, S C

India

1996-2008

49

21 (42.86%)

13 (26.53%)

15 (30.61%)

Chappell, G S

Australia

1970-1984

48

21 (43.75%)

13 (27.08%)

14 (29.17%)

Imran Khan

Pakistan

1971-1992

48

14 (29.17%)

8 (16.67%)

26 (54.17%)

Azharuddin, M

India

1984-2000

47

14 (29.79%)

14 (29.79%)

19 (40.43%)

Gavaskar, S M

India

1971-1987

47

9 (19.15%)

8 (17.02%)

30 (63.83%)

Lara, B C

West Indies

1990-2006

47

10 (21.28%)

26 (55.32%)

11 (23.40%)

Strauss, A J

England

2004-

47

24 (51.06%)

9 (19.15%)

14 (29.79%)

Hussain, N

England

1990-2004

45

17 (37.78%)

15 (33.33%)

13 (28.89%)

May, P B H

England

1951-1961

41

20 (48.78%)

10 (24.39%)

11 (26.83%)

Nawab of Pataudi Jr

India

1961-1975

40

9 (22.50%)

19 (47.50%)

12 (30.00%)

Simpson, R B

Australia

1957-1978

39

12 (30.77%)

12 (30.77%)

15 (38.46%)

Sobers, G S A

West Indies

1954-1974

39

9 (23.08%)

10 (25.64%)

20 (51.28%)

Jayasuriya, S T

Sri Lanka

1991-2007

38

18 (47.37%)

12 (31.58%)

8 (21.05%)

Dhoni, M S

India

2005-

37

17 (45.95%)

10 (27.03%)

10 (27.03%)

Gooch, G A

England

1975-1995

34

10 (29.41%)

12 (35.29%)

12 (35.29%)

Javed Miandad

Pakistan

1976-1993

34

14 (41.18%)

6 (17.65%)

14 (41.18%)

Kapil Dev

India

1978-1994

34

4 (11.76%)

7 (20.59%)

22 (64.71%)

Reid, J R

New Zealand

1949-1965

34

3 (8.82%)

18 (52.94%)

13 (38.24%)

Gower, D I

England

1978-1992

32

5 (15.63%)

18 (56.25%)

9 (28.13%)

Vettori, D L

New Zealand

1997-

32

6 (18.75%)

16 (50.00%)

10 (31.25%)

Brearley, J M

England

1976-1981

31

18 (58.06%)

4 (12.90%)

9 (29.03%)

Illingworth, R

England

1958-1973

31

12 (38.71%)

5 (16.13%)

14 (45.16%)

Inzamam-ul-Haq

Pakistan

1992-2007

31

11 (35.48%)

11 (35.48%)

9 (29.03%)

Jayawardene, D P M

Sri Lanka

1997-

31

17 (54.84%)

8 (25.81%)

6 (19.35%)

Chappell, I M

Australia

1964-1980

30

15 (50.00%)

5 (16.67%)

10 (33.33%)

Dexter, E R

England

1958-1968

30

9 (30.00%)

7 (23.33%)

14 (46.67%)

Howarth, G P

New Zealand

1975-1985

30

11 (36.67%)

7 (23.33%)

12 (40.00%)


Source-http://www.howstat.com.au

Even though the statistics measured differently it cannot underestimate the captaincy of Arjuna Ranatunga(world cup winning captain of Sri Lanka) as well as other captains for their performance as well as commitment for the country.

Anyway the achievement of Mahela Jayawardene is phenomenal as a test captain and country is looking forward for many achievements for coming years as well.

- Asian Tribune -

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