SSC to felicitate Mahela Jayawardene for being inducted to ICC Hall of Fame

Thursday, 10 February 2022 02:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Mahela Jayawardene was formally inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame by fellow ICC Hall of Famer Sir Clive Lloyd

The prestigious Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) will felicitate one of its famous cricketing sons former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene on 17 February at the club pavilion lounge for being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame recently.

Jayawardene was formally inducted by fellow ICC Hall of Famer Sir Clive Lloyd during the T20 World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in November last year.

Jayawardene is the first cricketer from the club’s 123-year history to receive this honour and the third Sri Lankan overall after Muttiah Muralitharan in 2016 and Kumar Sangakkara in 2021.

The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises “the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket’s long and illustrious history” and so far a total of 106 players (men and women) have been inducted since its launch in 2009.

Jayawardene retired as one of Sri Lanka’s greatest ever players, being a key member of the team that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2014 and reached four other major ICC finals.

The eloquent right-hander joined the SSC in 1996 and the following year he made his Test debut against India.

He holds the world record for the most number of centuries and runs scored in Test cricket at one venue – SSC, where he leads with 11 centuries from 27 Tests and 2921 runs at his home ground, surpassing Don Bradman’s nine Test centuries at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It was at the SSC that Jayawardene and Sangakkara put on a world record partnership for any wicket in Test cricket - 624 runs against South Africa in 2006. Jayawardene went onto score a monumental 374 – the fourth highest individual score in the all-time list.

After retiring from the game after representing his country in 149 Tests, 448 ODIs and 55 T20Is, Jayawardene, one of the finest captain’s produced by Sri Lanka turned his attention to coaching and is today recognised as a top quality coach in world cricket.

He was Cricket Committee Chairman of SSC for one and a half years from 2020, having to step down from the position after Sri Lanka Cricket appointed him their consultant coach for all national teams. He is a member of the SSC’s Executive Committee. – (ST)