Championship
Jeremy Blackmore watches a Surrey legend end his county career by rewriting the record books
Reports from a great weekend of County Championship action
Pages 22-30
Kumar Sangakkara bowed out of county cricket at Lord’s in the same way as he signed off his Test career at the home of cricket – with a humility, grace and a century. Two of them this time to be exact.
Passing his newly unveiled portrait in the pavilion on his way out to bat, the Sri Lankan showed his enduring class to frustrate reigning champions Middlesex.
He has surely earned the right to write his own script and took the opportunity to announce his retirement from firstclass cricket at the end of the season. After fulfilling a few T20 commitments, he will then call time on an esteemed career.
On this evidence, Sangakkara, 39, is still near the top of his powers. The twin hundreds in this game took him past 20,000 career first-class runs and follow centuries in both his previous innings – only the fourth instance of a Surrey player scoring centuries in four consecutive knocks.
Yet he is determined not to outstay his welcome. “The biggest mistake you can make is to think you’re better than you really are and try to fight the inevitable. You need to get out while you’re ahead.”
Recognising the start he’s had to the season, he added: “There’s still a long way to go – so whatever happens at the back end of the season, you’ve got to enjoy the good times, but understand that all good things come to an end and cricketers have an expiry date and you need to walk away. I’ve been very lucky to play for as long as I did, so I’m not taking anything for granted and there’s a lot more life to be lived away from the game, but it’s nice to be still a part.
“I’ve got a couple of contracts I have to honour, but no-one wants an old dog just lying around or just playing for the sake of playing, so it’s a good thing that all these competitions really push you to perform and that’s the incentive because otherwise if you’re just going to be part of a side just for experience sake or to be a benchmark name, that’s a bit disappointing.”
Sangakkara paid tribute to Surrey who he joined as a Division Two side in 2015. “They’ve been a wonderful club to play for. They take care of their players very, very well,” he went on. “The four-day game has held a lot of interest for us as a team because the first year I was there we managed to get promoted, last year we had a very tough start to the season and we managed to really play well at the back end and stay in Division 1 and this year we’ve started off really well. So, to be part of that journey has been very, very enjoyable.
“I’ve played with a wonderful bunch of players: the Curran brothers, there’s so much potential and talent there, Rory Burns at the top, Batty as captain, Ben Foakes, you’ve seen what a revelation he’s been in his keeping and batting. To be part of that has been so worthwhile.”