Sangakkara offers master-class as Yorkshire are sent tumbling
THE MOMENT when it came was typically stylish.
With a rock back on the heels and a deft flick of the wrists, Kumar Sangakkara sent a ball from Yorkshire pace bowler Matthew Fisher down to third man for a single in front of the North East Stand.
The significance of the shot was that it took Sangakkara to three figures – his 100th hundred in all forms of cricket.
The Sri Lankan’s 39th one-day century, to go with 61 in first-class cricket, was the highlight of yesterday’s quarter-final at Headingley, where his 121 helped Surrey to 313-7 after they chose to bat.
Yorkshire scored 289-9 in reply, Adam Lyth top-scoring with 75 and Peter Handscomb striking 60, but it was Surrey who booked a semi-final date at Worcestershire on Saturday.
For Yorkshire, it meant that the wait goes on for a white-ball trophy.
It is 15 years since they won one-day silverware, and they will hope for better luck when the NatWest T20 Blast starts next month.
Not many things are missing from Sangakkara’s cricketing bucket list, but a hundred at Headingley was surprisingly one of them.
His previous best score at the ground was 79 in a Test match against England three years ago; his record against Yorkshire, in fact, was unusually poor.
In his eight previous innings against them, Sangakkara had managed 179 runs at an average of 22.37.
To put that into perspective, this is a man who averaged 57 in Tests and who has scored 1,348 in all cricket this season at an average of 89.86 – statistics that rather make a mockery of the fact that, as with fellow 39-yearold Ryan Sidebottom, he is hanging up his whites at the end of the year.
For, if you can bat like Sangakkara, you could probably go on for as long as WG Grace, who played his last Test at the age of 50.
In the modern game, of course, Sangakkara’s longevity is already exceptional; the left-hander is as timeless as his batting is transcendent.
If the bitter pill of yet another one-day knockout defeat for Yorkshire was to be sweetened by anything, at least a Sangakkara master-class provided some mitigation.
From the moment that he came to the crease in the fourth over, after Mark Stoneman had edged a fullish ball from Ben Coad to the wicketkeeper, he looked at his radiant best beneath overcast skies.
A cover-driven four off Tim Bresnan showed that the hands and feet were moving nicely, while, at the other end, Scott Borthwick helped himself to boundaries from four successive deliveries from Bresnan, with the pitch providing little margin for error.
In the four Royal London Cup group games played at the ground this year, there had been four totals of 330-plus, evidence that Headingley, by no means, is a bowlers’ paradise.
But Yorkshire persevered, Azeem Rafiq ending a secondwicket stand of 61 by trapping Borthwick lbw, Rory Burns then sweeping fellow spinner Karl Carver to square-leg to leave Surrey 70-3 in the 15th.
When the total was 58, Sangakkara gave his only chance, hitting Rafiq out to deep mid-wicket, where Alex Lees did well to get a hand on the ball as he dived fulllength with an outstretched right hand.
Other than that, it was a near faultless display, graceful drives and deflections combining with more brutal shots down the ground, such as when he pummelled Coad over long-off towards the Rugby Stand with his historic century coming into view.
Sangakkara received excellent support from wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, with whom he added 180 for the fourth wicket inside 29 overs.
Foakes hit 86 from 88 balls with nine fours in an innings ended when he lofted Rafiq to long-on, while Sangakkara faced 121 balls and struck nine fours and four sixes, his innings also ended by Rafiq, who had him stumped as he came down the pitch.
Ollie Pope chipped in with 37 from 25 deliveries before skying Bresnan to wicketkeeper Handscomb, and Sam Curran was run out from the deep by Fisher, Surrey managing 86 from the final 10 overs.
Yorkshire’s reply was given a flying start by Lyth, who drove the first delivery from Jade Dernbach to the cover rope.
Lees fell with the total on 31, pulling Dernbach to deep squareleg, but Lyth and Jack Leaning seemed to be turning the match
Yorkshire’s way during a secondwicket stand of 95 in 19.
But when both fell in successive overs from Ravi Rampaul, Lyth holing out to deep cover and Leaning caught behind, the hosts slipped to 131-3 in the 27th.
Gary Ballance and Peter Handscomb added 64 in 11 before Ballance pulled a full toss from Tom Curran to Sangakkara at mid-wicket, the captain falling for 36.
Bresnan was caught behind; Handscomb holed out to wide long-on; Rafiq and Fisher were run-out; and Matthew Waite was bowled after a valiant 34 from 24 balls.
Sangakkara had managed 179 runs at an average of 22.37.
Chris Waters, on Kumar Sangakkara’s previous record against Yorkshire.