Architect of 1998 Test win at Oval, Sri Lanka interim coach Jayasuriya compares

Sri Lankas interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya compared their two famous Test wins against England at the Oval While comparing the two victories the former batting maestro pointed out their recent success came in tough conditionsDuring Sri Lankas renowned win at The Oval in 1998 Jayasuriya played the architects role with his 213run blitzkrieg in the first inningAlso read Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are best players in the world Sanath JayasuriyaHe returned to The Oval as Sri Lankas interim head coach and saw Sri Lanka celebrate their second triumph at the venue Their 1998 conquest came on a slow and dry surface under a clear sky The iconic spinner Muttiah Muralitharan exploited the conditions and scythed 16 wickets across both inningsAbout 27 years ago we won here under Arjuna Ranatunga Murali Muttiah Muralitharan got about 16 wickets I got a doublehundred and Aravinda de Silva got a 150 Its a place well never forget The Oval Jayasuriya said while reminiscing about the 1998 win as quoted from ESPNcricinfoIn their recent triumph in the third Test clouds constantly hovered over the stadium and the green deck turned out to be a pacers dream Jayasuriya pinpointed the tough conditions in which the Sri Lankan team battled for a win while crediting the players for their allaround effortsBut these guys played in different conditions altogether It was tough conditions with the grass the weather and everything was cloudy and cold All credit to these boys The fielders fielded well and the batsmen took responsibility in the second inning Jayasuriya addedSri Lankas pace quartet orchestrated Englands downfall in the third Test Asitha Fernando three Milan Rathnayake four Vishwa Fernando five and Lahiru Kumara six shared 18 wickets between themJayasuriya was in full praise of the remarkable success that the pacers garnered throughout the third Test which lasted for four daysIts the first time we went with four fast bowlers and we went with that because of the conditions here and all of them went beyond 100 per cent in their efforts Its a joy to talk about them Our secondinning bowling was remarkablethey stuck to the plan and got them out in under 35 overs all out for a little more than 150 Jayasuriya saidThe attitude Lahiru Kumara brought to the middle is what I expectedI wanted him to show as much of that as possible in the middle Thats how we need to play cricket He bowled an excellent line and length Asitha Fernando was outstanding right through the series Rathnayake was really good as a newcomerhe bowled really well Vishwa Fernandothe way he bowled in the second innings is what we wanted he addedAfter finishing the third series on a high note Sri Lanka will host New Zealand for a twomatch Test series beginning on September 18With agency inputs