Sri Lanka v England: Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene must be stopped

Those who think life ends at 30 obviously haven’t been watching the Sri Lanka cricket team.

Many of the Asian nation’s key performers have long left their twenties behind and the cream of the crop are closing in on the ripe old age of 40.

So read on to see which wily – and ever-so talented – senior statesmen England must neuter if they are to win their seven-match ODI series, which begins on Wednesday…

KUMAR SANGAKKARA

Age: 37

ODIs: 383

Batting average: 39.99

Runs: 12918

Sangakkara is poised to re-don the wicket-keeping gloves for at least the first three ODIs of the series following the dropping of Dinesh Chandimal, but while he is more than capable behind the stumps – 89 stumpings and over 300 catches  tells you that – the left-hander’s batting will be of greater concern to England. Sangakkara has registered 19 tons and a whopping 87 half centuries in international 50-over cricket and is one of just five players – countrymen Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya as well as Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar being the other – to pass 12,000 ODI runs. One of the most stylish and stubborn batsmen in the game, Sangakkara had to wait until 12 years after his debut to notch his maiden hundred against England, a sumptuous 134 not out at The Oval in the 2013 Champions Trophy. The veteran followed that up with another limited-overs century in Sri Lanka’s 3-2 series win in England last summer – an eye-catching 112 at Lord’s – before carrying that form into his country’s 1-0 Test-series victory, posting innings of 147, 61, 79 and 55 across the two matches and averaging 85.50. Sangakkara, currently positioned fifth in the ODI batting rankings, had a mixed time in Sri Lanka’s recent whitewash against India but is a man for a big occasion, as his match-winning 53 in the final of the 2014 ICC World T20 testifies.

MAHELA JAYAWARDENE

Age: 37

ODIs: 428

Batting average: 33.15

Runs: 12036

Playing against England really seems to get Jayawardene going – in all forms of the game. The elegant right-hander has amassed eight tons, 10 fifties and an average of nigh on 60 in his 23 Tests against Alastair Cook’s charges but has also taken them to the cleaners in one-day cricket. Jayawardene has scored more ODI hundreds against England (5) than he has against any other nation, though intriguingly only one of those three-figure totals has come in Sri Lanka, way back in Colombo in 2001. The others, if you’re interested, were collected at Adelaide, Durham, Old Trafford and Headingley. Jayawardene has been a staple of Sri Lanka’s wristy batting line-up since 1998, with only Tendulkar (463) and Jayasuriya (465) playing more ODIs than the Colombo native, and he has lost little of his slickness, as evidenced by his recent effortless score of 118 in Hyderabad, his 17th ODI ton. The big scores may not come with such regularity these days but Jayawardene will remain a vital cog for Sri Lanka until he, and Sangakkara, depart the one-day scene after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. England would be well advised not to hit the ball anywhere near him when they are batting, too – Jayawardene has pouched 211 catches in his huge number of ODIs, the most by a non-wicketkeeper.

TILLAKARATNE DILSHAN

Age: 38

ODIs: 293

Batting average: 37.92

Runs: 10075

The master of the ‘Dilscoop’, or the ramp shot in more common parlance, can take an attack to pieces – but he hasn’t been doing that too often of late. Dilshan is century-less from his 18 ODIs in 2014, while only one of his three tons in 2013 came against a side other than Bangladesh – a patient 115 versus a Dale Steyn-shorn South Africa. His record against England does not make for glorious reading either, with the man known as Mr Pallekele accruing just one hundred and three fifties in his 23 knocks against them, handing him an average of 28.25. That said, two of those half centuries came in the summer of 2014, at Durham and Lord’s, and the hundred on that list was an absolute beauty, as well as vitally important. Sri Lanka needed 230 to beat England in the fourth quarter-final of the 2011 World Cup, in Colombo, after Messrs Muralitahran, Malinga and Herath had done their bit with the ball. Step forward Dilshan. The home hero blasted a mesmerising 108 not out from 115 balls, a knock which contained 12 fours and two sixes, as he and Upul Tharanga (102 not out from 22 deliveries) ensured Sri Lanka cantered home with all 10 wickets and 63 balls remaining. England would, therefore, be unwise to write off Dilshan’s batting and his spin bowling, for that matter, which has yielded 81 wickets and can, at the very least, tie down an end.

RANGANA HERATH

Age: 36

ODIs: 60

Bowling average: 31.85

Wickets: 60

Sri Lanka’s slow left-armer may be devoid of the magic and mystery of Muttiah Muralitharan but he is industrious and always plays with a smile on his face. Herath’s statistics suggest he is getting better with age, too, with the spinner’s most profitable ODI bowling year coming in 2013 when he seized 26 wickets in 17 games at an average just shy of 20 when facing the likes of India, Australia, West Indies and New Zealand. Herath has played only five ODIs in 2014, though, and should be refreshed for the visit of England having sat out the recent 5-0 humbling at the hands of India. The twirler, who has enjoyed stints in county cricket with Surrey and Hampshire, should also glean confidence from his displays in the Test arena in 2014, having picked up 56 wickets, including 9/127 in the first innings of the match with Pakistan in Colombo in August, the best figures for a left-armer in the Test arena. Herath is experiencing something of an Indian summer to his career, then, but has yet to really leave England quaking in ODIs. He has snared just two wickets from his three encounters and shipped 122 runs in the process, while the last time he battled Cook’s group in the 50-over domain he was battered for 29 runs in his 3.1 overs, at Old Trafford in May.

Watch each of England's seven ODIs with Sri Lanka on Sky Sports 2, starting with the opener at 8.30am on Wednesday.