Sanga set to quit tests, announce that the World Cup will be his swansong

....is the rumour doing the rounds at the moment.

If so, thanks for the memories Sanga. A quality act.

Aye - one of the ATGs.

Best average of anyone to play 100 Tests, a mark likely to stand for some time.

Yeah, great player, great person. He's going out on a high.

Just saw the interview that caused the flutter. He didn't say much that he didn't already before. Talked about this being his last world cup and that he was in the twilight of his career. He's revealed more about his retirement plans before tbh.

It was only a small part of a long-ish interview. One of the few cricketers who's worth listening to.

So a case of the press (or social media) taking a snippet and turning it into a story??

Yeah, there was even a report which said that an announcement was certain yesterday

Apparently the Sri Lankan Cricket Board have asked him to delay his test retirement. Considering how badly they've treated Sri Lanka's players over the years, I hope Sanga turned around and told them to get f*cked.

One of the ATG's.
Aggressive, talented, generous with praise and principled.
Heard him deliver his calculated and targeted lecture at the  MCC Spirit of Cricket
Cowdrey Lecture at Lords in 2011 - and what an absorbing hour that was.

He talked cricket intelligently of course, but his references to the Tamil wars were
enlightening insofar as they were both emotional and steeped in reconciliation,
and his references to the corruption in Sri Lankan cricket was dynamite which later  
prompted the Sri Lankan government to hold enquiries into the allegations.

It remains the best Spirit of Cricket Lecture I've ever heard  since its inception in 2001.

For all his aggression, classy batsman-ship and, naturally, his sledging, he will be missed.

I liked his reference to sledging when he said that it should never be abusive but targeted
at the batsman in order to draw from said batsman a reaction ... which could take the form of
anything *from a show of arrogance, a comment, a shake of the head, or a slump of the shoulders
(*from Wiki).

Well played that man.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2015/content/current/story/808173.html

"Opposition to Sangakkara's retirement has been founded on the argument that the team would be substantially better served if Sangakkara remained in the Test side until it was more settled. Sri Lanka have yet to play a Test since Mahela Jayawardene's retirement and, if Sangakkara had also quit following the forthcoming New Zealand Tests as he had planned, both of the side's leading batsmen would have become unavailable within the space of two series."


Poor old Sanga. He owes Sri Lankan cricket nothing, yet they seem to be pressuring him to play for one more year simply because Mahela got in first with his retirement announcement. Both him and Mahela are the same age, so naturally you might assume they'd retire at around the same time.

By and large, Sri Lanka treat their players terribly, so I think most people would be behind a great servant like Sanga if he told them to get stuffed and retired on his own terms. Ie after the World Cup.

As you say, he can't be begrudged for any decision he makes. But I guess if he saw cricket less as a day job than a chance to represent his nation, then he may be a bit further swayed to stay on. As an aside, both world cups f*cked thw Slc

For purely selfish reasons, I wish he plays on.