Prabhat Jayasuriya on getting his maiden overseas 5-fer against South Africa at St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
Prabhat Jayasuriya has now claimed eleven five-wicket hauls in Test cricket. For comparison, that is more than all but the three best bowlers from Sri Lanka: Chaminda Vaas (12), Rangana Herath (34), and Muttiah Muralitharan (67).
Jayasuriya’s consistency is demonstrated by the fact that he reached double figures in just 18 Test matches. However, it is also suggested that the fact that he has played so many Test matches at Galle (basically, spin-bowling heaven) makes his record particularly impressive. This is somewhat true—eight of his Test matches and eight of his five-fors have taken place in Galle. This five-for has therefore been quite significant in Gqeberha.
On the spiciest greentops, Jayasuriya’s team can really contemplate omitting a spinner completely; in fact, they were on the verge of doing so for this second Test. However, given how this game has unfolded, if Jayasuriya hadn’t gone 5 for 129 in the second innings, Sri Lanka would not still be in the game, if only by a slim margin.
“An overseas five-for is something that I had targeted for a long time,” Jayasuriya said after the fourth day. “Getting wickets away from home was something I had worried about at times, because people questioned my ability to do that. When we play outside home, and in SENA [South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia] countries, my role is quite different. I always try to do what I can do for the team. I’m very happy I was able to get this five-wicket haul in a place like South Africa.”
Bowling over the wicket into the rough outside the leg stump of the right-handers was a major factor in his success on day four, when he claimed three wickets, including the top batsman in the series, Temba Bavuma.
“It’s still a good pitch to bat on, and will be tomorrow as well,” he said. “The decision was between bowling into areas that were still good for batting, or to bowl into areas where there was some help in the surface. At that time, between the captain, coach and head coach, we decided to try that strategy [of bowling into the rough], and it was successful.”