Jayasuria calls time

[self_shattered]

The modest masterblaster calls time








It was an exit that brought to mind Mike Atherton's sheepish departure at The Oval in 2001. No-one knew for sure that this was his final innings in Test cricket, but the way Sanath Jayasuriya shyly saluted his standing ovation was telling in the extreme.
As he reached the rope after a pugnacious 78, he was met with a pat on the shoulder and a semi-embrace by the incoming batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, before Sri Lanka's uber-fan, Percy Abeysekera, chaperoned him to the pavilion steps beneath a giant national flag. The tongues had been set a-wagging and moments after the close came the confirmation we'd been expecting.
"This is the right time to retire," Jayasuriya confirmed. He had bowed out on this ground once before, against Pakistan in April 2006, when a nasty broken finger quite literally forced his hand. Though he reneged on that decision - with some success - in England later that year, this time, at the age of 38, there will be no coming back "There are some young guys coming up, and I wanted to go while on top," he said. "Life without cricket will be tough, but I will still be playing one-day cricket and contributing to the team."