Kumar Sangakkara - a futile hundred with a controversial end

There's been some great Test cricket going on in the Antipodes recently. Not that Ashes garbage - New Zealand against Sri Lanka.

New Zealand eventually won the first Test. It was a match where all four innings combined added up to roughly one Australia v England first innings - 649 to be precise. We love cricket like this. It's far more exciting than the run-fest drudgery that's usually served up these days. You also know that when a player hits a hundred, he bloody deserves it. Kumar Sangakkara hit a hundred.

Only one other player - Daniel Vettori - passed 50 in the entire match. Clearly Murali recognised how impressive Sangakkara's achievement was, because he ran to congratulate him on completing the hundredth run while batting as his partner. Unfortunately, he did this while the ball was still en route from the boundary. Brendon McCullum rather coldly ran him out, but you can't blame him.

Can you?

Kumar Sangakkara 156 runs out of 268

Context is everything in cricket. Remember Paul Collingwood's 10 in the Oval Test in the last Ashes? That was some 10. Probably the best 10 we've ever seen. Wickets had been falling and the atmosphere was becoming hysterical. A dull, blocking 10 was the perfect antidote. Contrast that with a huge hundred against demoralised, substandard opposition when you've already got 500 on the board. We can't be bothered thinking of a specific example.

In the first Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, we described how the context of the game led us to believe that Kumar Sangakkara 'bloody deserved' his hundred. It was low-scoring and here's the post. We won't repeat ourself.

In the second Test, Sangakkara just made 156 not out in Sri Lanka's total of 268. That's some percentage. Not out, too. Maybe Sri Lanka's other batsmen were all off their mash on ecstasy pipes, you say? Not so. New Zealand are currently 66-4, so unless there's been a big party and only Kumar Sangakkara wasn't invited, the lad's a class above.

Full marks, Kumar. We respect batsmen who score when it matters.

Kumar Sangakkara hits hundred, wins match, raises expectations, probably loses us a pound

Kumar Sangakkara hit 110 today as a Murali-free Sri Lanka beat India in Rajkot.

Sri Lanka have been playing here there and everywhere this year and more often than not, they've been winning. We're particularly thinking back to the end of the English season, when they methodically dismantled England and left the pieces strewn from here to wherever you are.

We think it might be worth putting a quid on Sri Lanka for the World Cup.

Kumar Sangakkara hits fifth Test double hundred

No mean feat. Kumar Sangakkara's up to equal sixth in the list of who's scored the most Test double hundreds. Here's the list. With a pretty blue background.

Don Bradman - 12
Brian Lara - 9
Wally Hammond - 7
Marvan Attapattu - 6
Javed Miandad - 7
Rahul Dravid - 5
Kumar Sangakkara - 5

You know you've all been missing the blue box.

Kumar Sangakkara's 200 not out against Bangladesh today means he has five double hundreds out of 13 hundreds. That's some ratio.