The carrot that even Brian Lara fell for

How Jayawardene laid out the master plan to draw out the star batsman, turn the match around

To call the Sri Lankans sharp after their brilliant fielding show against the West Indies would be telling half the story. The fleet-footed highly athletic Sri Lankans have a constantly ticking brain bank too just behind the stumps. This was proved by the sequence of events that culminated in Brian Lara’s wicket and a master plan laid out by captain Mahela Jayawardene at first slip and the wicket-keeper vice-captain Kumara Sangakkara.

As anybody will tell you, this happens to be the regular turning point of any game the West Indians play these days.

Lara stumped Sangakkara b Vaas 2 — is an unusual dismissal considering it’s a frontline batsman caught outside the crease while facing a new ball bowler.

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Ask Sangakkara about the dismissal and he says: “Very satisfying”, but soon adds that “it just happened”. But looking back it seems the Lankans actually “made it happen”.

When Lara took strike against Chaminda Vaas after Dwayne Bravo departed, there were three balls left in the over. After playing the first ball from the crease, Lara twice took a big stride forward to lean into his drives as Vaas kept the ball just short of good length.

As ends changed and Dilhara Fernando’s over was about to end, there was brief conversation between Sangakkara and Jayawardene, who were already planning for Vaas versus Lara duel in the next over.

After noticing Lara’s exaggerated forward moment the captain and his deputy had spotted the Achilles heel. With Fernando about to bowl the last ball of the over, Jayawardene gestured to Vaas standing at third man if Sangakkara should wear a helmet.

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Vaas nods and that meant the plan was on — the wicket-keeper was now supposed to stand up for the next over. He did and Vaas once again drew Lara out of the crease to drive. Lara missed the ball and his left heel wasn’t quite grounded in the crease.

Sangakkara flicked the bails and after a long wait the third umpire declared Lara out. The Lankans and virtually everybody at the packed stadium knew the game was over.

This proved to be real case of spotting the Achille’s heel.

Sanath Jayasuriya

At 37 years 276 days, Jayasuriya is a veteran in the Sri Lankan team. One of the four survivors of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning team, the left-handed all-rounder has proved once again that he is not over yet. His 101-ball 115 and 3/38 from his 8.3 overs in his 384th ODI was not only good enough to give him the Man of the Match award but it also powered his team to an improbable victory over their formidable opponents.