Sangakkara
Early life
Sangakkara was born to Kumari and Chokshanada Sangakkara at Matale in 1977. Sangakkara is a product of the Trinity College, Kandy and was the Ryde Medalist of his year.[1] He showed talents in both cricket and tennis at school, and it was the school's Principal, Mr. Leonard De Alwis who advised his mother to encourage him to pursue cricket.
International career
Sangakkara began his career as a batsman but subsequently became a wicket-keeper. His batting has developed to such an extent that he once topped the LG ICC Test batting rankings. However, in 2006 he gave the gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene in Tests and has since played as a specialist batsman. He remains Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper in One Day International and Twenty20 cricket. As of September 2009, he was ranked 1st on the Test batting rankings. Sangakkara peaked at 6th on the ICC all-time Test batting rankings.
Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and upon making a century, consistently continues on past 150. On the 6 December 2007 he was named as the new Number 1 batsman in the LG ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests His skill was recognized worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One International Day team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46.
Sangakkara was billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka. On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. In March 2009 he was appointed to captain the Sri Lankan team for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. Sangakkara has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly
Sangakkara was born to Kumari and Chokshanada Sangakkara at Matale in 1977. Sangakkara is a product of the Trinity College, Kandy and was the Ryde Medalist of his year.[1] He showed talents in both cricket and tennis at school, and it was the school's Principal, Mr. Leonard De Alwis who advised his mother to encourage him to pursue cricket.
International career
Sangakkara began his career as a batsman but subsequently became a wicket-keeper. His batting has developed to such an extent that he once topped the LG ICC Test batting rankings. However, in 2006 he gave the gloves to Prasanna Jayawardene in Tests and has since played as a specialist batsman. He remains Sri Lanka's wicket-keeper in One Day International and Twenty20 cricket. As of September 2009, he was ranked 1st on the Test batting rankings. Sangakkara peaked at 6th on the ICC all-time Test batting rankings.
Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and upon making a century, consistently continues on past 150. On the 6 December 2007 he was named as the new Number 1 batsman in the LG ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests His skill was recognized worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One International Day team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46.
Sangakkara was billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka. On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. In March 2009 he was appointed to captain the Sri Lankan team for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. Sangakkara has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara plays his domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka. Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was confirmed to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship. Lancashire coach, Peter Moores said "Kumar is hot property at the moment and rightly so. He is arguably the most consistent batsman in international cricket with an outstanding average in all formats, making his signing a real coup for Lancashire. Not only will he bring his qualities as a player to the squad but his experience and knowledge will be invaluable."However, Sangakkara never played for Lancashire as he was unavailable due to international commitments.
[edit] 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
Main article: 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
On the 3rd of March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy injured several players, including Sangakkara, and also injuring six other people in the convoy.
Personal life
He is the youngest of four siblings and has a brother and two sisters one of whom is a sportswoman herself - a keen Tennis player. Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali and is currently a law undergraduate, going in the footsteps of his father, who is also a leading lawyer in Kandy. He is multilingual, being able to speak in Sinhalese, Tamil and English and is often seen as the unofficial spokesman of the cricket team. Sangakkara is ambidextrous. Sangakkara is currently a law student at the Sri Lanka Law College.
Sangakkara plays his domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka. Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was confirmed to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship. Lancashire coach, Peter Moores said "Kumar is hot property at the moment and rightly so. He is arguably the most consistent batsman in international cricket with an outstanding average in all formats, making his signing a real coup for Lancashire. Not only will he bring his qualities as a player to the squad but his experience and knowledge will be invaluable."However, Sangakkara never played for Lancashire as he was unavailable due to international commitments.
[edit] 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
Main article: 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team
On the 3rd of March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy injured several players, including Sangakkara, and also injuring six other people in the convoy.
Personal life
He is the youngest of four siblings and has a brother and two sisters one of whom is a sportswoman herself - a keen Tennis player. Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali and is currently a law undergraduate, going in the footsteps of his father, who is also a leading lawyer in Kandy. He is multilingual, being able to speak in Sinhalese, Tamil and English and is often seen as the unofficial spokesman of the cricket team. Sangakkara is ambidextrous. Sangakkara is currently a law student at the Sri Lanka Law College.
Batting and fielding averages
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | St | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 88 | 147 | 10 | 7549 | 287 | 55.10 | 13594 | 55.53 | 21 | 32 | 977 | 22 | 157 | 20 |
| ODIs | 268 | 251 | 27 | 8194 | 138* | 36.58 | 10903 | 75.15 | 10 | 55 | 813 | 36 | 257 | 66 |
| T20Is | 28 | 27 | 2 | 733 | 78 | 29.32 | 609 | 120.36 | 0 | 6 | 72 | 14 | 12 | 8 |
| First-class | 173 | 276 | 20 | 11933 | 287 | 46.61 | 29 | 56 | 318 | 33 | ||||
| List A | 351 | 330 | 36 | 11356 | 156* | 38.62 | 16 | 73 | 340 | 89 | ||||
| Twenty20 | 79 | 75 | 5 | 2138 | 94 | 30.54 | 1647 | 129.81 | 0 | 16 | 238 | 39 | 40 | 21 |
Bowling averages
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 88 | 2 | 66 | 38 | 0 | - | - | - | 3.45 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 268 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| T20Is | 28 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| First-class | 173 | 192 | 108 | 1 | 1/13 | 108.00 | 3.37 | 192.0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| List A | 351 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Twenty20 | 79 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |