Monday 23 June 2014

The greatest partners of all time - the 2 wizards from the island nation.

Tendulkar - Ganguly, Haynes - Greenidge, Hayden - Langer. These are few of the names which come to our mind when we think of the greatest pairs in history. The former has put together more runs and scored more hundreds in ODIs than any other pair in the history of the game. The next two pairs were the opening combination of two of the greatest sides of the modern era respectively - the mighty West Indians of 1980s and the incomparable Australians of early 2000s. But when it comes to the sheer aesthetic delight of watching cricket one pair stands tall above the rest. The two friends from Colombo - Mahela  Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara has just recently went past Sachin - Saurav’s record of most runs put together by any pair in all international cricket. The Sight Screen is back after a hiatus of 2 months and in this edition we are looking at the exploits of the two Sri Lankan wizards.

In recently concluded Lord’s test between England and Sri Lanka, with the score at 245/2 Sangakkara came down the track and chipped debutant and part time off spinner Moeen Ali over the head of mid-on. The ball landed a few feet short of the long on fence and sped across the ropes for his 9th boundary of the innings. But on a more significant note with that boundary the Mahela - Sanga pair brought up 12400th partnership run thereby overtaking Sachin - Ganguly’s record.

Mahela & Snaga have played in 5 WC finals. Here in action vs Ind,Mumbai,2 Apr 2011.


Most partnership runs in international cricket

Players
Team
Inngs
Runs
Balls
Avg
Best
100s
50s
Mahela/Sangakkara
SL
273
12466
18472+
47.94
624
33
57
Sachin/Ganguly
Ind
247
12400
14241+
51.45
281
38
45
Haynes/Greenidge
WI
251
11688
NA
49.52
298
31
51
Sachin/Dravid
Ind
241
11037
15409+
47.98
331
31
43
Jayasuriya/Atapattu
SL
266
9995
11794+
39.35
335
23
50

# Barring Mahela - Sang, none others batted together in T20Is.

Most partnership runs in test cricket

Players
Team
Inngs
Runs
Balls
Avg
Best
100s
50s
Sachin/Dravid
Ind
143
6920
11085+
50.51
249
20
29
Haynes/Greenidge
WI
148
6482
NA
47.31
298
16
26
Mahela/Sangakkara
SL
113
6151
11013
56.43
624
17
25
Langer/Hayden
Aus
122
6081
9492+
51.53
255
14
28
Cook/Strauss
Eng
132
5253
10143
40.40
229
14
21

Most partnership runs in ODI cricket

Players
Team
Inngs
Runs
Balls
Avg
Best
100s
50s
Sachin/Ganguly
Ind
176
8227
8292+
47.55
258
26
29
Mahela/Sangakkara
SL
137
5493
6686+
41.93
179
14
29
Jayasuriya/Atapattu
SL
144
5462
4920+
39.29
237
14
26
Gilchrist/Hayden
Aus
117
5409
5456
47.44
172
16
29
Haynes/Greenidge
WI
103
5206
NA
52.88
192*
15
25

Most partnership runs in T20I cricket

Players
Team
Inngs
Runs
Balls
Avg
Best
100s
50s
Warner/Watson
Aus
35
1146
771
32.74
133
3
6
Guptill/B McCullum
NZ
21
825
596
43.42
127*
2
4
Mahela/Sangakkara
SL
22
822
671
41.10
166
2
3
Dilshan/Mahela
SL
31
766
574
26.41
145
1
3
Hales/Lumb
Eng
18
705
461
41.47
143*
2
3


The two batted together for the first time during a chase in an ODI at Colombo RPS against Pakistan. SL was positioned at 167 for the loss of 3 wickets, chasing 241 for victory when Sanga came out to join Mahela in the middle. The pair put on 52 runs in 63 balls anchoring the chase. Since then they have put on 91 stands of 50 or more runs, easily the most by any pair in history.

The table below shows the landmarks achieved by the pair. 9 of the 13 landmarks were reached with century partnerships and 3 more with 50 partnerships - a probable sign that they celebrate landmarks with pomp and élan.

# For all the tables in this article, ball by ball updates are only for matches starting from 01 August, 2001.

# KS stands for Kumar Sangakkara & MJ for Mahela Jayawardene.

# NA stands for Not Available.

Run
Inngs
Type
Against
Venue
Date
When on
Final
KS
MJ
1st
1
ODI
Pak
Colombo(RPS)
9 Jul 2000
1
52
-
-
1000th
24
Test
Pak
Lahore
6 Mar 2002
86
173
230+
294+
2000th
51
ODI
Aus
Colombo(SSC)
29 Feb 2004
4
60
682+
736+
3000th
68
Test
Pak
Karachi
28 Oct 2004
9
18
1168+
1154+
4000th
92
Test
Pak
Colombo(SSC)
26 Mar 2006
37
158
1693+
1665+
5000th
102
Test
SA
Colombo(SSC)
27 Jul 2006
477
624
2151+
2167+
6000th
119
ODI
Eng
Dambulla
1 Oct 2007
7
71
2591+
2590+
7000th
146
Test
Bang
Dhaka
26 Dec 2008
58
135
3015+
3043+
8000th
170
Test
NZ
Colombo(SSC)
26 Aug 2009
92
173
3630+
3480+
9000th
191
Test
Ind
Colombo(PSS)
3 Aug 2010
35
55
4069+
3926+
10000th
210
ODI
Eng
Leeds
1 Jul 2011
87
159
4554+
4434+
11000th
236
ODI
Pak
Colombo(RPS)
16 Jun 2012
13
110
5041+
4928+
12000th
263
Test
Bang
Chittagong
4 Feb 2014
18
178
5543+
5432+
12401*
271
Test
Eng
Lord’s
12 Jun 2014
97
126
5690+
5543+


They have been fairly consistent against all oppositions, averaging above 39, barring Zimbabwe against whom they average 29.33 in 13 innings with a highest of 89. The opposition against whom they feasted the most was SA - an average of 83.80 in 21 innings. The first 100 partnership came against them; 168 at Kingsmead. They came together with SL starring down the barrel at 2/2 in reply to SA’s 420. They put together 168 runs for the 3rd wicket and bailed SL out temporarily before losing last 8 wickets for 46 runs.

But the most significant innings from the pair came 5 years later against the same opposition at Colombo. SL was once again in early trouble at 14/2 after restricting SA for 189. The next 22.5 overs of the day saw the pair putting on 114 runs as SL finished on 128/2 with Mahela on 55 and Sanga on 59. Day 2 saw the pair putting on 357 runs with them still unseperated at close of play with both of them reaching their respective double centuries. They partnership read 471 runs, 105 behind the all- time record of 576 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama against India in 1997. At lunch on day 3 they were 6 short of equalling the world record. In the second ball of the 146th over when Mark Boucher failed to collect a delivery outside leg stump from Nicky Boje the world record was rewritten. The partnership was finally broken when Sanga was eventually dismissed for 287 caught behind off Andrew Hall. Mahela continued his merry making till he finally fell short of Brian Lara’s world record of 400 by 26 runs.

Sanga & Mahela during their marathon 624-run partnership vs SL


Opposition wise in all international cricket

vs
Inngs
Runs
KS(runs)
KS(balls)
MJ(runs)
MJ(balls)
Avg
Best
RR
100/50
Afg
1
33
18
23
14
14
33
33
5.34
0/0
Af XI
2
23
17
17
4
14
11.50
22
4.44
0/0
Aus
39
1536
763
1209
694
1250
39.38
121
3.76
4/8
Bang
17
1283
626
895
603
972
75.47
311
4.06*
3/8
Ber
1
150
76
83
62
73
150
150
5.76
1/0
Can
1
179
78
66
96
72
179
179
7.78
1/0
Eng
42
1694
723+
1235+
844+
1318+
44.57
159
3.91
4/8
Ind
44
1723
816+
1183+
790+
1149+
39.15
193
4.41
6/7
NZ
22
826
375+
617+
377+
565+
39.33
173
4.02
2/5
Pak
53
2023
983+
1450+
825+
1514+
40.46
173
3.96
5/10
SA
21
1676
718+
1250+
648+
1113+
83.80
624
3.64
4/5
WI
16
968
417
649
485
647
64.53
166
4.51
3/4
Zimb
13
352
163
221
160
237
29.33
89
4.29
0/2

# Both innings against Africa XI was when they represented Asia XI

When he came into the side in mid-2000 Mahela was Sri Lanka’s established No. 4 batsman and Sanga began to bat at no. 5. The first time they batted together at No. 3 was the above mentioned Durban test in 2001 where they put on 168. Since then they have had 16 more stands of 100 or more. They are only behind Dravid and Sachin in tests in terms of runs and century partnerships in test cricket. But they averaged 60 runs per stand to Dravid - Sachin’s 48. In ODIs they have batted together on more occasions than that any non-opening combination (121 times) and have also put together most number of runs (4942) with most century stands (14). They are the only pair to put up 3000+ runs for the 3rd wicket in ODIs.

Wicket wise in all international cricket

Wkt
Inngs
Runs
KS(runs)
KS(balls)
MJ(runs)
MJ(balls)
Avg
Best
100
50
2
28
1240
541+
671+
603+
719+
51.66
166
2
8
3
190
9475
4513+
7315+
4254+
7310+
50.94
624
26
42
4
44
1575
633+
905+
646+
850+
38.41
121
5
7
5
8
196
85+
155+
94+
118+
24.50
58
0
1
6
1
9
1
10
5
8
9
9
0
0

The pair thrived on the flat tracks of Asia averaging well above 50 in Sri Lana, Pakistan and Bangladesh. At home they have put together 6300 runs and are the only pair to score 5000+ runs on home tracks. They have generally struggled outside Asia, averaging only 35.36 in 66 innings outside Asia excluding England. In England they average 49.65 in 30 innings with 3 partnerships of 100 or more.

Country wise in all international cricket

Country
Inngs
Runs
KS(runs)
KS(balls)
MJ(runs)
MJ(balls)
Avg
Best
100
50
Aus
23
856
456
661
362
611
37.21
153
2
4
Bang
15
822
418
632
377
639
54.80
178
2
5
Eng
30
1291
550
875
643
959
49.65
159
3
7
Ind
17
611
281
452
289
398
35.94
151
2
3
Ken
1
13
NA
NA
NA
NA
13.00
13
0
0
NZ
5
138
57
91
42
71
27.60
70
0
1
Pak
13
703
356
449
297
491
58.58
173
1
5
SA
18
521
172+
277+
134+
291+
30.64
168
2
0
SL
115
6300
2912+
4767+
2948+
4786+
57.27
624
18
27
UAE
14
382
178+
348+
136+
285+
29.38
102
1
2
WI
15
594
268
341
278
309
39.60
166
2
1
Zimb
6
235
125
163
96
165
36.16
89
0
2

After winning the WT20 2014 final vs India,Dhaka,06 Apr 2014


Top 10 partnerships by Mahela - Sanga

Runs
Type
vs
Venue
Date
KS
MJ
624
Test
SA
Colombo (SSC)
27 Jul 2006
285(670)
309(498)
311
Test
Bang
Kandy
11 Jul 2007
139(187)
165(210)
193
Test
Ind
Colombo (SSC)
26 Jul 2010
114(162)
75(142)
192
Test
SA
Colombo (SSC)
11 Aug 2004
104(168)
82(210)
179
ODI
Can
Hambantota
20 Feb 2011
78(66)
96(72)
178
Test
Bang
Chittagong
04 Feb 2014
103(155)
72(147)
173
Test
Pak
Lahore
06 Mar 2002
100(128)
68(96)
173
Test
NA
Colombo (SSC)
26 Aug 2009
90(138)
79(105)
168
Test
SA
Durban
26 Dec 2000
NA
NA
166
T20I
WI
Bridgetown
07 May 2010
68(49)
86(50)

# All partnerships came for the 3rd wicket except the 166 vs WI which was for the 2nd wicket.



# In the 272 partnership innings together, Mahela was dismissed 150 times and Sanga 110 times while 12 times they remained unbeaten.

# In the 5 match series against Australia at home in 2004 , Mahela and Sanga batted together in all 5 ODIs - they only time they did in a series of 3 or more matches, putting up scores of 121, 70, 24, 63 & 60.

# In Feb-Mar 2009, they put together 5 consecutive stands of 50 or more – 67, 61, 84, 58 & 61. 

# On 7 occasions the partnership got off the mark with a boundary first ball with Mahela doing it on each time.

# They were dismissed off the first ball they faced 5 times with Mahela at the wrong end on 4 times and Sanga once.

# They have batted together in both innings of a test on 19 times - 7 of those against Pakistan.



*  All stats updated till June 19, 2014.




TAILENDER





The two friends with another partnership, this time off the field. Ministry of Crabs is one of the most famous restaurants in Colombo. It is run by Mahela and Sanga along with Dharshan Munidasa.