Prabath Jayasuriya nominated for ICC Men’s Player of the Month award

Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasuriya has been nominated for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for April.

New Zealand batter Mark Chapman and Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman have also been nominated for the award, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said.

Jayasuriya completed 50 wickets in seven Tests to claim the record for reaching the mark in fewer matches than any other spinner in the history of the format.

The left-arm spinner, who picked up 17 wickets in the two-match Test series against Ireland in Galle, reached the mark in the second Test match of the series when he had Paul Stirling, centurion from the first innings, caught on the final day of the game.

Jayasuriya had begun his Test career with an impressive 12-wicket match haul on debut against Australia and now has six five-wicket hauls in seven Test matches thus far.

He picked up a career-best haul of 7/52 in April in the first Test of the series against Ireland and then added three more in the second innings to make it his second match haul of 10 wickets or more.

Despite Ireland making 492 in the first innings of the second Test match, Jayasuriya was the standout bowler, sending down 58.3 overs for his five wickets.

By reaching the landmark of 50 Test wickets in his seventh Test match, Jayasuriya usurped the record held by spinner Alf Valentine. Additionally, he joined the ranks of Vernon Philander of South Africa and Tom Richardson of England as the joint-second-fastest overall to reach this milestone.  (Colombo Gazette)