Kumar Sangakkara slams five back-to-back tons in County Championship
What’s the story?
In what will be Kumar Sangakkara’s final season of domestic cricket, the Sri Lankan legend showed his never-ending appetite for runs. The run machine notched up five consecutive centuries in the County Championship, which is a record for Surrey.
“You try to fight the inevitable but you need to get out while you’re ahead,” the 39-year-old told the BBC on Monday.
“It’s the last time I’ll play a four-day game here. I’ll be 40 in a few months, this is about the end of my time in county cricket,” he added.
In case you didn’t know...
The left-handed batting star quit test cricket in 2015 with 12,400 runs, fifth on the all-time list of test run scorers, averaging 57.40 in 134 matches. The fifth straight ton in the county championship marked his 99th career hundred and his 61st in first-class cricket.
The heart of the matter
After scores of 136, 105, 114 and 116*, the evergreen Lankan reached the landmark and became the 8th cricketer to score five back-to-back tons by smashing yet another against Essex on Friday.
Sangakkara’s fine knock rescued his side, which found themselves in a pickle at 31/5. He was accompanied by Sam Curran and they together built a partnership worth 179 to take their side to 210/5 at lunch. Sangakkara stood unbeaten at the end of Friday’s play at 177.
Curran, who scored a valuable 90 in the crucial sixth-wicket partnership, said that Sangakkara guided him all through the innings which was a wonderful experience for him.
What’s next?
The 39-year-old Sangakkara will be retiring from first-class cricket in September, post England’s County Championship season.
Author’s take
Kumar Sangakkara is undoubtedly one the best batsmen Sri Lanka has ever produced. The cricketing star will be turning 40 in a few months but as his recent exploits clearly prove, his hunger for runs is hard to satiate. Once he retires from the game for good, he will be missed by every cricket fan out there, who have seen him take bowling attacks to the cleaner one match after the other.