COLOMBO: One of the game's most elegant stroke-makers, Mahela Jayawardene, enjoyed a fitting farewell to Test cricket at his home ground as Sri Lanka completed a 2-0 series sweep against Pakistan on Monday.
Few cricketers exemplified the spirit of the game better than the gentlemanly 37-year-old, though his pleasant demeanour hid nerves of steel, a calculating, street-smart mind and an obsessive drive for perfection.
His final innings at his favourite Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo on Sunday had been yet another classy knock of 54 that saw him complete the milestone of a half century of Test fifties.
He had retired from Twenty20 internationals after Sri Lanka's title-winning campaign in the World T20 in April, but will continue in the 50-over game hoping to compete in next year's one-day World Cup in Australia.
Jayawardene is one of only five batsmen to score more than 11,000 runs in both Test and one-day cricket -- the others being Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and team-mate Kumar Sangakkara.
That he finished with an average of 49.84 over 149 Tests with 34 hundreds, six times passing 200, illustrates his irrepressible hunger for runs through a 17-year-career.
Although his form outside Asia had been inconsistent, he set a deluge of records at home.
He scored a monumental 374 during a world record partnership of 624 with Sangakkara (287) against a South African attack that included Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini at the SSC in 2006.
Jayawardene looked set to surpass Brian Lara's record of 400 when he was bowled against the run of play. Ever the team-mate, he preferred to rejoice in his team's huge win by an innings and 153 runs.
He got an immediate taste of big scores on his Test debut as a 20-year-old in 1997, when Sri Lanka piled up a world record total of 952-6 declared against India at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
Slated to bat at number six, the young Jayawardene saw Sanath Jayasuriya make 340, supported by Roshan Mahanama (225), before himself scoring 66.
Jayawardene's farewell Test was originally scheduled to be played at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo before officials accepted a request to move it to the SSC.
His 2,921 runs in 27 Tests at the SSC are the most by any batsman at a single ground, marked by an average of 74.89 with 11 centuries and nine 50s.
Last month, against Hashim Amla's South African team, Jayawardene showed his skills had not diminished as he once again revelled in the serene surroundings of the SSC to make a fluent 165.
He bid farewell to another happy hunting ground in Galle in the first Test just over a week ago by making 59 in the first innings, and 26 in the unfamiliar role of an opener in the second as Sri Lanka beat fading light and approaching rain to chase down a target of 99 with 4.2 overs to spare against Pakistan.
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