Hail Mahela!

It's always exciting when a long-standing record is broken, so congratulations to Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera for smashing the 51 year-old Test 4th wicket total of 411 to post 437 against Pakistan.

The achievements of Lara, Richards, Greenidge, Waugh, Tendulkar, Ponting, Hayden, Inzamam, Dravid, Ganguly, Kallis and others are often written about but the 31 year-old Sri Lanka captain seems to have sneaked in under the radar as one of modern cricket's great batsmen. Over 8000 runs at an average of more than 53 and a similar number of runs in ODIs could lead to him being one of the sport's best ever. I liked the way he calmly and elegantly compiled plenty of runs against England a few years ago and once he reaches three figures he tends to keep going; 11 of his 25 centuries have been of 150 or more.

He and Sangakkara already boast the world record Test partnership of 624, when Jayawardene posted 374, against South Africa in 2006. Interestingly, none of the legendary players mentioned in the previous paragraph feature in the top wicket partnerships table. Apart from Jayawardene, only Sir Don Bradman figures twice, and that's pretty good company to keep!

It's also a testament to Sri Lankan cricket that they hold more Test partnership records than any other nation. Jayasuriya and Mahanama put on 576 for the 2nd wicket against India twelve years ago and who'd bet against another top score falling at Kandy or Colombo in the next few years? Is this just a fluke, something to do with national pride and team spirit or because two players click together at the right time on the right pitch against a friendly attack? I don't have the answer!

When, as he has announced, he relinquishes the captaincy, Jayawardene could be part of those future records. He is a very attractive player to watch, seems to enjoy his batting and has his heart in the right place off the pitch, too, raising loads of cash for his cancer charity. I look forward to seeing many more runs flow from his bat.