Test debutants with their Sri Lanka caps (from left): Maheesh Theekshana, Kamindu Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya

After Sri Lanka had beaten Australia by an innings for the first time to win the second cricket Test and share the two-match series one-all at Galle, the question in everybody’s lips was, if it was not for several of the regular players being unavailable due to COVID-19, would we have seen the likes of Prabath Jayasuriya, Kamindu Mendis and Maheesh Theekshana donning whites and making their debut in red ball cricket and contributing to the team’s victory.

Of the three who debuted in that Test the one who made the biggest impact was left-arm spinner Jayasuriya with his consistent impeccable line and length submitted the Australian batsmen to committing mistakes that led to their downfall.

“One reason why we lost the first Test was we didn’t have the patience to bowl at one area. I had confidence in Prabath and he did the job for us. He used his experience and did a great job,” said Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

Jayasuriya, a product of Christ Church College, Matale and Lumbini College, Colombo was certainly no greenhorn. He was 30 when he was handed his first Test cap by his club captain at SSC Dimuth Karunaratne. Jayasuriya has been in the domestic cricket circuit for a decade playing his trade taking 234 wickets in 64 first-class matches at a cost of 25. 

When regular left-arm spinners Lasith Embuldeniya was found wanting in his bowling due to a lack of confidence and Praveen Jayasekera was tested COVID-19 positive, Sri Lanka drafted in two uncapped left-arm spinners into their squad for the second Test – Jayasuriya and teenager Dunith Wellalage. Wellalage, the Sri Lanka U19 World Cup captain had already made a mark for himself in the white ball series against Australia, but Karunaratne opted for the experience of Jayasuriya knowing his capabilities having played several times under him at SSC as well as in the National Super League. 

In fact, Jayasuriya would have won his Sri Lankan colours earlier had he not failed a fitness test during Bangladesh’s tour here last year. That setback saw Jayawickrama making his Test debut and going onto bowl Sri Lanka to victory with 11 wickets in the match at Pallekele.

Jayasuriya went one better at Galle on Monday by bagging 12 wickets in his first Test to record the best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan bowler as well as the fourth best figures in Test cricket on debut, invoking memories of that all-time great left-arm spinner Rangana Herath.

With Dhanajaya de Silva being tested COVID-19 positive gave an opportunity for 23-year-old former Richmondite Kamindu Mendis to make his Test debut. Mendis broke into the international circuit as a white ball cricketer, but his technique and patience were most suited to the longer version. To prove that he was ready to take the next step to play at the highest level, Mendis given the opportunity to captain Kandy led them to become champions in the National Super League four-day tournament. 

He was the tournament’s leading run scorer with 886 runs (avg. 80.54) from six matches inclusive of four centuries and four fifties. His ability to bowl with bowl hands was also an advantage and made him an ideal replacement for De Silva. However, in the Test against Australia his bowling didn’t come in handy because Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis and Theekshana took all ten wickets between them. Nevertheless, given the opportunity to bat he scored a fifty on Test debut displaying excellent temperament and technique in making 61 in a partnership of 133 with Dinesh Chandimal, earmarking him as a future Test player for Sri Lanka.  

“Kamindu showed lot of character on debut. We needed a character like him,” said Karunaratne. However, Mendis may have to await his turn for a while for his next opportunity. 

“We have a policy that if a player is going out after injury, then he needs to get his place back. My debut was in Galle and I got a 60 odd but I wasn’t in the squad for the next Test match. So, if Dana (Dhananjaya de Silva) comes back Kamindu will have to go out,” said Karunaratne. “But then he is a player with a good future. Impressed with the way he played Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc. Simply because someone is out it doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a place in the side.”

Theekshana made his alma mater St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena proud by becoming the first cricketer to play Test cricket from the institution. With leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay failing to impress on his debut in the first Test, Sri Lanka opted for the off-breaks of Theekshana who had troubled the Australian batsmen in the white ball series with the varieties of deliveries he has up his sleeve.  It was a big gamble playing Theekshana who was inadequately short of first-class experience having appeared in only three matches since making his first-class debut at the age of 18 for Colts in 2018. He was more into the white ball format playing T20I, franchise and ODI cricket.

With Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis doing the bulk of the bowling his role was more or less to keep one end tight and he did it quite adequately. Jayasuriya and Mendis ran through the top and middle orders, leaving Theekshana to clean up the tail. Number 11 Mitchell Swepson was his first Test victim in the first innings followed by Aussie skipper Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon in the second.  

“They have played a lot of first-class and ‘A’ team cricket and some have played franchise cricket. They have done a great job and I was confident they will do well,” was how Karunaratne rated the performance of the trio.

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