Sanath and Aravinda in Wisden World One-day (1 May 1999)

Dashing opener Sanath Jayasuriya (called 'Cricket's biggest loose cannon') and the swashbuckling Aravinda de Silva ('the guy has an incredible eye') figure in the Wisden World One-day XI picked prior to the commencement of the seventh edition of

01-May-1999

1 May 1999

Sanath and Aravinda in Wisden World One-day

The Daily News

Sri Lanka off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan figures as one of three reserves.

Wisden Cricket Monthly, a leading cricket magazine in the UK, invited one of today's greatest players in the game, Allan Donald of South Africa to make the selection on current players who will figure in the World Cup.

The Wisden World One-day XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Hansie Cronje (captain), Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Pollock, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Darren Gough, Glenn McGrath.

Reserves: Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Muthiah Muralitharan.

Donald on Jayasuriya: "I've never bowled at a batsman like him. He will smash length balls in the first over of a match, and it takes a huge effort to grit your teeth and keep going. I've bowled the same sort of stuff to him that other batsmen might get four or five an over from, and you find you're well into double figures. He clatters it anywhere, and is unstoppable when he's going. I've gone around the wicket to him and angled it in short, which sometimes makes him throttle back a bit. Another way we have sometimes done him is by mixing up the pace. Even so, the only advice I can give bowlers is never give him width. He can make his own, but a bowler can only stick to his method and not get shot away by cricket's biggest loose cannon".

Donald on de Silva: "The No. 3 is sometimes the most difficult position to get right, but I found picking de Silva, the easiest of all. Like Tendulkar, the guy has an incredible eye, which is why he pulls length balls better than anyone I've ever bowled to. Most batsmen commit themselves with a foot movement just before you release, but he stands still longer than most, which is why he picks the length so quickly. He is one of the most difficult batsmen to bowl to - not quite in the class of Tendulkar, but he is right up there with the best".

Donald on Muralitharan: " 'Murali' has to be my reserve spinner. Given that his action is cleared by the authorities, I pick him because, like Warne he is a strike bowler who wins games. He doesn't mind the sweep, because his loop makes length difficult to pick. You must come down the track to him, because his line makes it difficult to work him from off to leg. Even Hansie Cronje says he is difficult to milk, and that is why I pick him".

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)