Excellence of Alastair Cook, emergence of Jayasuriya: Cricket talking points

Osman Samiuddin discusses some of the week's biggest talking points from around the cricketing world.

Essex batsman Alastair Cook drives to the boundary during day two of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two match between Worcestershire and Essex at New Road on May 2, 2016 in Worcester, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)Show less

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This week’s biggest talking points from The National’s resident cricket writer, Osman Samiuddin.

10k and counting

“You can’t really argue with a bloke who’s scored 10,000 runs.”

That, at least, is what Alastair Cook thinks and, well, who can argue with him? Not when he sits 36 runs away from that landmark, which he should surpass easily and early this summer.

In fact, you can say whatever you want about his technique, his limited range of strokes, his relatively dour game. But there is no denying that he is a true English batting giant, and becoming the first Englishman to cross that barrier will only reaffirm that truth.

Nor does he appear to be anywhere near finished. He is only 31, and is not planning on going anywhere until at the least the Ashes in Australia at the end of 2017. Already this season he has hit three first-class hundreds for Essex, having to adjust to a new helmet design he was not keen on in the first place.

Is Jayasuriya the man?

Sri Lanka have had a chastening year and a bit. In that time, the reality of life without Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene has hit them hard.

Last year, they lost both home series to Pakistan and India as part of losing as many as seven of the 11 Tests they played. To this slide returns Sanath Jayasuriya in a second stint as national selector.

The former opener had a productive first stint between January 2013 and March 2015, when Sri Lanka won a World T20 title as well as a Test series in England. This, despite his run-ins with senior players.

Now, he says, it will be easier, but it is difficult to see how – their batting is the weakest it has been for years. Their pace bowling, however, is arguably the strongest it has ever been.

As they get ready for a Test series in England, Jayasuriya will hope those bowlers can bring him a repeat triumph.

Chinaman lives on

The rise of Tabraiz Shamsi has reached a major turning point. This week the chinaman – or left-arm legspinner – was called up by South Africa for the first time.

It is a just reward for an exceptional first-class season in which Shamsi ended up as the country’s leading spinner, and a dream stint playing in the Indian Premier League with the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Shamsi has been around for a while – he made his first-class debut in 2009 – but over the last year or so, he has become especially prominent. He is part of South Africa’s ODI squad to play the tri-series in West Indies in June, as one of three spinners.

Given that his long-form record is also excellent – 272 wickets in 68 matches – it is not outlandish to imagine that he might make the Test side, especially considering how poor South Africa’s Test spin resources have been.

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