Sanath Jayasuriya wants clean sweep against Australia

The selector of the Sri Lankan cricket team Sanath Jayasuriya has urged Angelo Mathews and the rest of the Sri Lankan players to aim for a clean sweep against the Australians. The Sri Lankans have never managed to complete a clean sweep against the Australians ever since they were granted Test match status all those years ago in 1981. In spite of winning a World Cup in 1996 and a World T20 in 2014, the Lankans are yet to complete a clean sweep in Test match cricket.

Jayasuriya also went on to state that the 2-0 lead in the series was something that the management certainly did not expect. “No one thought we would be leading 2-0, everybody thought it would be the other way round but we’ve turned it around as a team,” Jayasuriya, who is now chairman of Sri Lanka’s selectors, told AFP in an interview in Colombo.

“If we can do that (win 3-0), then it’s history. So I hope the boys will realise that we have got a big opportunity.”

Jayasuriya also added that the faith they had in the young side certainly paid off. “We had a lot of faith in them and we are very happy the way they played … I think with the experience they will learn, but they have to start somewhere and they started in Sri Lanka.”

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“They won (the first two Australia Tests) and won convincingly and that’s important. So the future for Sri Lankan cricket is bright.”

“I don’t agree with the two-tier system,” Jayasuriya said. “And I am not saying because of Sri Lanka’s ranking because we will rise after this series, but (the current system) is better.”