30th April 2023: this Sri Lankan Spin bowler was successful in breaking a 71-year-old test cricket record! Who is he and what’s his record? To know more read on!
On the last day of the 2nd Test, Sri Lankan spinner Prabath Jayasuriya broke a record that had stood for 71 years when he bowled against Ireland's Paul Stirling and took his 50th Test wicket.
This monumental event occurred on Friday, April 28 while the match was continuing in the Galle International Cricket Stadium, Sri Lanka.
After winning game two of the series against Ireland in Galle by an innings and 10 runs, Sri Lanka achieved a superb 2-0 series victory. Ireland, who batted first and collected 492 runs in the first innings, surrendered under pressure and ended up getting bowled out for 202 runs after the home team's players put up a massive total of 704 runs.
While Sri Lanka's batsmen Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis both scored double hundreds, it was the spin bowling team of Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis who caused the most damage, taking 13 wickets between them in the two innings.
With his 7 wickets in the match, Jayasuriya in particular produced a record-breaking performance and helped write Test cricket history.
Since making his Test debut against Australia in July 2022, when he finished with the fourth-best debut match figures of 12/177, the 31-year-old Jayasuriya has experienced a remarkable rise.
The West Indies' bowler Alf Valentine held the record for the fastest 50 wickets by a spinner in a Test match for 71 years before Jayasuria smashed it. In 1950–1951, during the longest format of the game, Valentine—also a left-arm spinner—took 50 wickets over the course of 8 Test matches, but Jayasuriya of Friday broke that mark, doing so in only 7 Test matches.
Jayasuriya has now matched former England cricketer Tom Richardson and South African bowler Vernon Philander, both of whom needed just seven games to get 50 Test wickets. Charlie Turner of Australia is ranked first overall after accomplishing the feat in just six games during the 1887–1888 season. Alf Valentine (West Indies) from 1950 to 1951, Terry Alderman (Australia) from 1981, Rodney Hogg (Australia) from 1978 to 1979, and Frederick Spofforth (Australia) from 1877 to 1883, who took 50 wickets in 8 games, are also on the list.
The cricket community and players from all around the world have congratulated Prabath Jayasuriya for this massive achievement.