This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (December 2007)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (September 2007)

Shaun Pollock

Personal information
Full name	Shaun Maclean Pollock
Born	(1973-09-16) 16 September 1973 (age 38) Port Elizabeth, Cape Province, South Africa
Nickname	Polly
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right arm fast-medium
Role	Bowling all-rounder
International information
National side	South Africa
Test debut (cap 261)	16 November 1995 v England
Last Test	10 January 2008 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 39)	9 January 1996 v England
Last ODI	3 February 2008 v West Indies
ODI shirt no.	7
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1992/93–2003/04	KwaZulu-Natal
1996–2002	Warwickshire
2004/05	Dolphins
2008	Mumbai Indians
2008	Durham
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	108	303	186	435
Runs scored	3,781	3,519	7,021	5,494
Batting average	32.31	26.45	33.11	26.66
100s/50s	2/16	1/14	6/35	3/24
Top score	111	130	150*	134*
Balls bowled	24,353	15,712	39,067	21,588
Wickets	421	393	667	573
Bowling average	23.11	24.50	23.25	22.93
5 wickets in innings	16	5	22	7
10 wickets in match	1	n/a	2	n/a
Best bowling	7/87	6/35	7/33	6/21
Catches/stumpings	72/–	108/–	132/–	153/–
Source: CricketArchive, 20 September 2008

Shaun Maclean Pollock (born 16 September 1973) is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003. He is the leading wicket taker among South Africans, taking over 400 test wickets and scoring over 3,700 test runs in his 108 Test matches.^[1] On 11 January 2008 he announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket after his 303rd One Day International on 3 February.^[2]

Career[link]

Shaun Pollock was a fast-medium seam bowler, with the ability to deliver a quicker ball with accuracy and swing.

The nephew of legendary South African cricketer Graeme Pollock and the son of former South African fast bowler Peter Pollock, expectations from him were high since he started playing for South Africa in 1995/96, in their home series against England.^{[citation needed]} He cemented his place in the team with some excellent performances and found a steady bowling partner in Allan Donald. They were to be the mainstay of South African bowling till Donald's retirement.^{[citation needed]}

Pollock was also a very useful hard-hitting batsman, whose style bears some resemblance to his famous uncle on occasions. He has normally batted at 7 or 8, with a Test average of over 30 and ODI average above 25. He is also an athletic fielder.^{[citation needed]} After Hansie Cronje was banned from cricket for life, Pollock took over the captaincy in April 2000. He had the task of boosting the morale of the team in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal. After getting off to a good start as a captain he faced some disappointing series losses in his tenure. He was eventually removed from the captaincy after South Africa's poor performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, a tournament that they were amongst the favourites to win as the host nation. Current captain Graeme Smith took over the job.

Pollock has just clipped Dominic Cork through mid-wicket during the 1st Test between England and South Africa in 1998 at Trent Bridge

Although no longer captain, he retained his place in the team. After a disappointing Test series tour of Australia in 2005/2006, he faced criticism for losing his wicket taking ability. He has the lowest (best) economy rate of any bowler to have taken 300 ODI wickets,^[3] and he is also the first South African and only the tenth player to take 400 Test wickets. However, minor injuries hampered his performances towards the end of his career,^{[citation needed]} and in September 2007 he was dropped from the South African test side for the first time in his career.^[1] Pollock was later readded to the test series against the West Indies, whereupon he announced his retirement, effective on 3 February 2008. He stated that "I realise I have been blessed by God and feel I have nurtured my talents to the best of my abilities."^[2] After South Africa sealed a series victory against the West Indies, Graeme Smith paid tribute to Pollock, stating "It's very important that people celebrate what he's given to South African cricket and what he's achieved as an individual."^[4] Shaun Pollock recently represented Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, and Durham Dynamos in the 2008 Twenty20 Cup in England.

He is friends with golf icon Gary Player and regularly plays in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf series to help raise funds for underprivileged children.

Shaun Pollock has commentated on Sky Sports and Test Match Special on the BBC during the 2008 England vs South Africa Test Series.

Career highlights[link]

Pollock took four wickets in four balls on his first appearance for Warwickshire – in a limited-overs (B&H Cup) game v Leicestershire at Birmingham in 1996. He also recently received the SA Player's Player award and the SA ODI Player of the Year Award.^[5]

He is joint 10th in the all time best ever bowler ratings in the LG ICC Ratings,^[6] and has taken over 400 wickets and at the time of his retirement was one of only six players to have scored 3000 runs and taken 300 wickets in Test matches.

He has also performed impressively in One Day International, consistently from 1997 to 2001. The year 2002 saw a little performance dip after which he performed excellently up until 2005 after which there was a second dip.^{[citation needed]} Many said^[who?] that Pollock would not recover from this but he did, in fact he reached his career-best LG ICC Bowling Rating of 920 in February 2006. He holds the 3rd highest career-best rating, 3 points behind the New Zealand bowler Richard Hadlee.

In June 2007 he represented an Africa XI in an ODI game against an Asia XI in Bangalore. Playing as a specialist batsman, Pollock scored 130 from number 7 in the batting order, the highest ever score by an ODI batsman in that position.^[7] The record would however not last long, MS Dhoni bettered it later in the series.

In Summer 2008 he played for Durham County Cricket Club in the North East of England along with fellow South African Albie Morkel used mainly in the Twenty20 Cup competition

Of the 18 players who have bowled at least 2,000 balls for South Africa in ODIs, Pollock economy rate of 3.65 runs per over was the second best behind that of Fanie de Villiers.^[8]

Rankings[link]

Shaun Pollock's career-best ranking and rating in the cricket ratings as determined by the International Cricket Council are as follows:

• Test Batting 37th (565).
• Test Bowling 1st (909).
• Test All-rounders 1st (489).
• ODI Batting 34th (589).
• ODI Bowling 1st (920)
• ODI All-rounders best 1st (496).

Personal life[link]

Pollock comes from a family of mainly Scottish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Andrew Pollock, who played for Orange Free State, was born in Edinburgh.^[9] He is married to Patricia "Trish" Lauderdale and has two daughters, Jemma and Georgia. Jemma was born in August 2003, and Georgia in July 2006. Lauderdale was a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant in the early '90s and also worked for MTN, a South African telecom company.^[10] He is a teetotaller and a devout Christian.^[11][12] Pollock is a graduate of the University of Natal with a bachelor's degree in commerce.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shaun Pollock

• Cricinfo: Player profile
• CricketArchive: Player profile

v t e South Africa squad – 1996 Cricket World Cup 1 Cronje (c) 2 Adams 3 Cullinan 4 de Villiers 5 Donald 6 Hudson 7 Kallis 8 Kirsten 9 Matthews 10 McMillan 11 Palframan (wk) 12 Pollock 13 Rhodes 14 Symcox

v t e South Africa squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Kirsten 2 Gibbs 3 Kallis 4 Cullinan 5 Cronje (c) 6 Benkenstein 7 Pollock 8 Rhodes 9 Boucher (wk) 10 Donald 11 Crookes 12 Dawson 13 Klusener 14 Elworthy 15 Boje Ntini was named in the original squad, but was replaced on 23 April 1999 by Dawson

v t e South Africa squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup 1 Pollock (c) 2 Boucher 3 Boje 4 Dippenaar 5 Donald 6 Gibbs 7 Hall 8 Kallis 9 Kirsten 10 Klusener 11 Langeveldt 12 Ntini 13 Peterson 14 Rhodes 15 Zondeki 16 Smith Replacement for Rhodes

v t e South Africa squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup Semi-Finalists 1 Bosman 2 Boucher 3 de Villiers 4 Gibbs 5 Hall 6 Kallis 7 Kemp 8 Langeveldt 9 Nel 10 Ntini 11 Peterson 12 Pollock 13 Prince 14 Smith (c) 15 Telemachus Coach: Arthur

v t e South Africa squad – 2007 ICC World Twenty20 1 Smith (c) 2 Bodi 3 Boucher 4 de Villiers 5 Duminy 6 Gibbs 7 Kemp 8 A. Morkel 9 M. Morkel 10 Nel 11 Ntini 12 Philander 13 Pollock 14 Tshabalala 15 van der Wath Coach: Arthur Loots Bosman was ruled out of the competition with a lower back injury.

Damien Martyn

Personal information
Full name	Damien Richard Martyn
Born	(1971-10-21) 21 October 1971 (age 40) Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Nickname	Marto
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Batting style	Right-hand
Bowling style	Right-arm medium
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 353)	27 November 1992 v West Indies
Last Test	1 December 2006 v England
ODI debut (cap 109)	8 December 1992 v West Indies
Last ODI	5 November 2006 v West Indies
ODI shirt no.	30
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1991–2006	Western Australia
1991	Leicestershire
2003	Yorkshire
2010	Rajasthan Royals
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODIs	FC	List A
Matches	67	208	204	297
Runs scored	4,406	5,346	14,630	8,567
Batting average	46.37	40.80	49.25	42.83
100s/50s	13/23	5/37	44/73	10/60
Top score	165	144*	238	144*
Balls bowled	348	794	3,365	1,549
Wickets	2	12	37	41
Bowling average	84.00	58.66	42.24	31.70
5 wickets in innings	-	-	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	n/a	-	n/a
Best bowling	1/0	2/21	4/30	3/3
Catches/stumpings	36/–	69/–	158/2	102/–
Source: cricinfo.com, 14 December 2007

Damien Richard Martyn (born 21 October 1971) is a former Australian cricketer. He played for the national team sporadically in 1992–1994 before becoming a regular ODI player in 1999–2000 and a regular Test player in 2001 until his retirement in late 2006. He was primarily a right-handed middle-order as a batsman with a 'classical' technique, known in particular for his elegant strokemaking square of the wicket on the off-side and through the covers. Martyn was also an occasional medium-pacer and distinguished fieldsman primarily in the covers who was capable of creating spectacular run-outs. He also very occasionally kept wicket at first-class level. He was named man of the series in the Border Gavaskar Trophy in 2004, to help Australia defeat India on the subcontinent for the first time in more than 30 years, and was named in early 2005 as the Australian Test player of the Year at the annual Allan Border Medal presentations.

Early international career[link]

Martyn moved with his family to Perth, Western Australia at the age of three, and was educated at Girrawheen Senior High School, before being selected for the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide in 1990. He made his first class debut for Western Australia the following season, in which he scored 822 runs at 51.37. Noted for his daring and sometimes cavalier strokeplay, Martyn was selected to make his Test debut against the West Indies in November, 1992 at the Gabba, a surprise replacement for Dean Jones. He batted in the middle-order, scoring 36 and 15.^[1][2] He played in all Tests in that season, apart from the Fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval where he was replaced by fellow Western Australian Justin Langer after sustaining an injury before the match. However, his performances were unconvincing, totalling 168 runs at 28.16 for the series, passing 50 only once with an unbeaten 67* at the MCG.^[1][3] Martyn was also a member of the ODI squad in that season, playing less regularly in only four of eleven matches, and aggregating 45 runs at 22.5.^[4]

Martyn was subsequently dropped from the Test team in the early 1993 tour to New Zealand, until being recalled for the Third Test at Eden Park, Auckland after Mark Waugh was dropped, scoring 74.^[3] Martyn also played in some of the subsequent ODIs on the New Zealand tour as well as on the 1993 Ashes tour to England,^[4] but was dropped from the Test team after Waugh scored centuries in the warm-up matches and had been the leading run scorer in the New Zealand ODIs. Waugh was third in the Test batting averages, confining Martyn to playing in tour matches against county teams. Martyn was given another chance in the 1993–94 Australian season when Steve Waugh tore a hamstring and Martyn played in the Boxing Day and New Year's Tests at the MCG and SCG respectively. Although he managed 59 in the first innings of a low scoring match in Sydney, it was his performance in the second innings which blighted his reputation for many years into the future. With Australia stumbling while chasing a small target of 117 against South Africa, Martyn had trouble scoring, with an unconvincing 6 from 59 balls in almost two hours as he and Craig McDermott took the total from 8-75 to within sight of victory at 8-110. He then attempted an airborne cover-drive off Allan Donald and was caught, and Australia lost the Test.^[5] Martyn was heavily criticised by the media who blamed him for the defeat. He played three more ODIs in that season, before being dropped upon Waugh's return from injury. Although Waugh would have reprised his position in any case, Martyn lost his position as the reserve batsman and was dropped from subsequent national squads altogether. He would not play ODI cricket again until 1997 and Tests until 2000.^[3][4]

International exile[link]

After returning to the domestic arena Martyn was appointed as captain of Western Australia in the 1994/95 season at the age of 23, the youngest player to have been given the honour. He also captained Australia A in the international ODI tournament of the same season. The following season, he relinquished the captaincy to Moody, in order to concentrate on his batting.^[1]

Later international career[link]

He re-appeared at the start of the millennium when he replaced an injured Ricky Ponting on the tour to New Zealand in early 2000. Despite topping the averages in New Zealand he made way for Ponting for the home series against the West Indies in 2000/01. He played one test during that summer, replacing an injured Steve Waugh for Australia's victory at Adelaide where he remained not out in both innings.

He was selected on Australia's tour to India in 2001 and was considered unlucky not to replace a struggling Ponting. His chance to consolidate a permanent position came in the side came during the 2001 Ashes tour where he replaced fellow West Australian Justin Langer in the first test. He posted his maiden test century in the first test at Edgbaston. He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year as a result of his performances in The Ashes in the summer of 2001.

Martyn subsequently put in regular appearances for Australia, becoming integral to the middle-order and eventually filling the void at no. 4 left by Mark Waugh's international retirement. His best form came over a twelve month period beginning in March 2004 where he scored two crucial centuries to help Australia to a 3-0 series whitewash in Sri Lanka. He was then man of the series in India when Australia claimed their first series victory on Indian soil in over 30 years. He made two centuries and narrowly missed out on becoming the first Australian batsman since Don Bradman to make three centuries in three innings when he was dismiseed for 97 in the second innings of the second test. Two centuries at home against Pakistan over the 2004/05 season and another in New Zealand in 2005 rounded out a stellar 12 months in which Martyn had made 1608 runs at an average of 61.84 in 12 months including 7 test centuries.

Martyn was presented with the McGilvray Medal in 2005 as the ABC's Test cricketer of the year as well as being adjudged Test Player of the Year at the 2005 Allan Border Medal.

Following a poor Ashes tour of England in 2005, where he recorded a total of 178 runs at an average of 19.77, Martyn was dropped from the Australian Test side to play in the ICC Super Series 2005. However, he was retained in the ODI side over the 2005/06 summer.

He was recalled to the Test squad at the expense of Brad Hodge for the three-Test series in South Africa in March and April 2006. Chairman of Selectors Trevor Hohns cited his experience as the major reason for his recall. His contributions in the first two tests were minimal but he repaid the selectors' faith with an important century in the second innings of the third test that helped guide Australia to victory.

In the 2006 Champions Trophy Tournament, Martyn won back-to-back man of the match awards against England and India. He also played an important unbeaten innings in the final against the West Indies to help Australia win the tournament for the first time. He was Australia's leading runscorer in the tournament.

Retirement[link]

Martyn played in the first two Tests of the 2006/07 Ashes series, where he managed to score just 45 runs in three innings. Dismissed for only 5 playing a rash shot in Australia's run chase in the second Test, his place in the side came under increasing scrutiny in the media, although he received several statements of support from members of the Australia team, notably Mike Hussey and Justin Langer.

Despite his poor form Martyn was widely expected to retain his place due to Shane Watson's lack of fitness and the fact that the third test was to be played at the W.A.C.A. Ground, Martyn's home ground. It came as a surprise when on 8 December 2006, Martyn announced his immediate retirement from all domestic and international cricket. ^[6] Commenting on his decision, Martyn said: "I would like to advise of my retirement from cricket, effective from today. I do so with a deep awareness of the opportunities that the game and Cricket Australia have provided for me."^[7] Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland insisted that Martyn had not been pushed and that Martyn was originally going to be named in the squad for the third Test.

On 1 September 2007, it was reported in the Daily Telegraph that Martyn had joined the break-away Indian Cricket League.^[8] However, since then he has pulled out of the event due to the birth of his first son, Ryder, but rejoined the ICL for 2008.

On 19 January 2010, Martyn was signed for US$100,000 to play for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.^[9]

External links[link]

• Cricinfo article on Damien Martyn

References[link]

• Super Series 2005 - Australian Squad from Cricinfo

Damien Martyn's career performance graph.

v t e Australia squad – 1999 Cricket World Cup (2nd title) 1 S. Waugh (c) 2 Bevan 3 Fleming 4 Reiffel 5 Warne 6 M. Waugh 7 Lee 8 Julian 9 Moody 10 Lehmann 11 McGrath 12 Gilchrist 13 Dale 14 Ponting 15 Martyn Coach: Marsh

v t e Australia squad – 2003 Cricket World Cup (3rd title) 4 Gillespie 11 McGrath 12 Bevan 14 Ponting (c) 18 Gilchrist 25 Lehmann 28 Hayden 29 Harvey 30 Martyn 31 Hogg 34 Bichel 39 Symonds 43 Hauritz 46 Maher 58 Lee 59 Bracken Coach: Buchanan Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and Shane Watson were named in the original squad but withdrew from the tournament

Kumar Sangakkara
කුමාර සංගක්කාර

Personal information
Full name	Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara
Born	(1977-10-27) 27 October 1977 (age 34) Matale, Sri Lanka
Nickname	Sanga
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm off break
Role	Wicket-keeper, batsman
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 84)	20 July 2000 v South Africa
Last Test	29 March 2012 v England
ODI debut (cap 93)	5 July 2000 v Pakistan
Last ODI	20 March 2012 v Bangladesh
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997–present	Nondescripts
2008–2010	Kings XI Punjab
2007	Warwickshire
2011–present	Deccan Chargers
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	107	325	195	421
Runs scored	9,361	10,472	13,950	14,233
Batting average	55.39	38.21	47.93	39.98
100s/50s	28/38	13/71	37/62	21/92
Top score	287	138*	287	156*
Balls bowled	78	–	204	–
Wickets	–	–	1	–
Bowling average	–	–	112.00	–
5 wickets in innings	–	–	–	–
10 wickets in match	–	–	–	–
Best bowling	–	–	1/13	–
Catches/stumpings	167/20	315/80	328/33	417/105
Source: Cricinfo, 29 March 2012

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara ^[1] (Sinhala: කුමාර් සංගක්කාර), or Kumar Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977, Matale, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman. He used to play as a wicket-keeper and top-order batsman in all forms of the game, but has stopped keeping wicket in Tests as his batting average is significantly higher in Tests when he plays as a pure batsman.

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 handed over wicket-keeping duties 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. He captained the national team from 2009 to 2011, stepping down after the 2011 World Cup.

He has been ranked as the number 1 Test batsman in the world several times during his career.^[2] Sangakkara (8) is third in the list of Test double century-makers, behind Donald Bradman (12) and Brian Lara (9). He scored his eighth double ton in Test cricket on 21 October 2011 against Pakistan.^[3]

Early life[link]

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara was born to Kumari and Chokshanada Sangakkara at Matale in 1977. Sangakkara received his primary and secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, a private boys' school. He played both cricket and tennis at school and the school's principal, Leonard de Alwis, advised his mother he should concentrate on cricket.^[4]

International career[link]

Early career[link]

At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nico Boje.^[5] Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century.^[6] His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka.^[7] Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.^[8]

Vice-captain[link]

When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakarra was made vice-captain.^[9] Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively.^[10] The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time tour tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full time.^[11]

On 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.^[12] His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One Day International 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 holds the record for fastest 8,000 runs (152 innings) in Test cricket. He broke the previous record set by Sachin Tendulkar (154 innings) during the third Test against India on 6 August 2010. He also holds the record for fastest 9,000 runs (172 innings) in Test cricket. He broke the previous record set by Rahul Dravid (176 innings) during the second Test against Pakistan on 3 November 2011.^[13]

Sangakkara was billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka.^[14][15] On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side.

On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured several players, including Sangakkara, and also injuring six other people in the convoy. After this incident ICC resolved to never host matches in Pakistan.

Captaincy[link]

At the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June.^[19]

A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament.^[20] Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament.^[21] Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run scorer behind team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper;^[22] in the event Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats.^[23] Reflecting on the decision afterwards"captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."^[20]

Post-captaincy[link]

Sangakkara (right) resigned the captaincy after the 2011 World Cup and was succeeded by Tillakaratne Dilshan (left).

Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a tour of England beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled-in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test.^[24][25] The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.^[26]

Kumar Sangakkara delivered the 2011 MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords.^[27] In 2012 he was named one of Wisden's five Cricketer's of the Year.^[28]

Domestic cricket[link]

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 contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship,^[29] but never represented the club because of international commitments.^[30]

Personal life[link]

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 [2] and is currently a law undergraduate at the Sri Lanka Law College, following in the footsteps of his father, who is also a leading lawyer in Kandy.

On 30 June 2009 Sangakkara's wife gave birth to twins, a girl and boy.^[31]

Playing style[link]

Sangakkara likes to hit the ball square of the wicket on the off-side and upon making a century consistently continues on past 150. 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. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:

The public perception of sledging is to go out there and abuse someone in obscene language, questioning their parentage or sexual preferences. That kind of abuse does not belong on the field of play. Sledging, as coined and pioneered by the Australians, is a measured comment designed to get a reaction out of a player. It could be any reaction: a bit of anger, a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders.

—Kumar Sangakarra in 2004^[32]

Player statistics[link]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Sangakkara's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Test performance against each opponent[link]

As of 2 April 2012:

Opponent	Matches	Innings	Not out	Runs	High Score	100	50	Average
Australia	9	17	0	726	192	1	5	42.70
Bangladesh	11	14	2	876	222*	2	5	73.00
England	19	34	1	1,205	152	2	6	36.52
India	15	24	2	1,257	219	5	2	57.13
New Zealand	8	14	3	651	156*	3	2	59.18
Pakistan	13	25	2	1,830	230	7	7	79.56
South Africa	15	28	0	1,362	287	3	5	48.46
West Indies	12	19	2	918	157*	3	5	54.00
Zimbabwe	5	6	0	536	270	2	1	89.33
TOTAL	107	181	12	9,361	287	28	38	55.39

Test centuries[link]

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Kumar Sangakkara.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of the player's career

Kumar Sangakkara's Test centuries
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	105*	10	India	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2001
[2]	140	14	West Indies	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2001
[3]	128	17	Zimbabwe	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2002
[4]	230	20	Pakistan	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	2002
[5]	270	38	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2004
[6]	232	42	South Africa	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2004
[7]	138	44	Pakistan	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	2004
[8]	157	48	West Indies	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2005
[9]	185	56	Pakistan	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2006
[10]	287	61	South Africa	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2006
[11]	100*	63	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	Jade Stadium	2006
[12]	156*	64	New Zealand	Wellington, New Zealand	Basin Reserve	2006
[13]	200*	66	Bangladesh	Colombo, Sri Lanka	P. Saravanamuttu Stadium	2007
[14]	222*	67	Bangladesh	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2007
[15]	192	68	Australia	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2007
[16]	152	69	England	Kandy, Sri Lanka	Asgiriya Stadium	2007
[17]	144	76	India	Colombo, Sri Lanka	P. Sarawanamuttu stadium	2008
[18]	104	80	Pakistan	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi stadium	2009
[19]	130*	83	Pakistan	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2009
[20]	109	85	New Zealand	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2009
[21]	137	88	India	Mumbai, India	Brabourne Stadium	2009
[22]	103	89	India	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2010
[23]	219	90	India	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Sinhalese Sports Club	2010
[24]	150	93	West Indies	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium	2010
[25]	119	97	England	Southampton, England	Rose Bowl	2011
[26]	211	101	Pakistan	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2011
[27]	144	103	Pakistan	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium	2011
[28]	108	105	South Africa	Durban, South Africa	Kingsmead Cricket Ground	2011

One Day International centuries[link]

Kumar Sangakkara's ODI centuries
	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year
[1]	100*	86	Pakistan	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates	Sharjah Stadium	2003
[2]	103*	87	Kenya	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah C.A. Stadium	2003
[3]	101	100	Australia	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium	2004
[4]	138*	141	India	Jaipur, India	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	2005
[6]	110	183	India	Rajkot, India	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground	2007
[7]	128	213	India	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2008
[8]	101	221	Bangladesh	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	2008
[9]	112	222	Pakistan	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	2008
[10]	121	223	Bangladesh	Karachi, Pakistan	National stadium	2008
[11]	111	288	New Zealand	Mumbai, India	Wankhede Stadium	2011
[12]	102	311	South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	New Wanderers Stadium	2012
[13]	105	318	India	Hobart, Australia	Bellerive Oval	2012

Product and brand endorsements[link]

• Viva malted milk by GlaxoSmithKline: 2006 – present^[33]
• Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited: 2007–2008^[34]
• Nations Trust Bank: 2008 – present^[35]
• Coca Cola: 2008 – present^[36]
• DIMO: 2008 – present^[37]
• IYOR: 2008^[38]

See also[link]

• 100 Runs Test Cricket Partnerships by Sri Lanka

References[link]