Tillakaratne praises physio for helping him through pain barrier

Sa'adi Thawfeeq

December 2, 2001

Hashan Tillakaratne praised Sri Lankan physio Alex Kontouri at the end of day four for helping him battle through severe pain to score his maiden Test double century and highest first class score ate the Sinhales Sports Club on Sunday.

Tillakaratne batted for two minutes under nine hours nursing a pulled hamstring in his left leg to score an unbeaten 204 to give Sri Lanka a commanding first innings lead of 237 over the West Indies on the fourth day of the third and final cricket Test.

"When I was 30, I pulled my hamstring. But thanks to Alex (Kontouri) I should be able to field tomorrow," said Tillakaratne at the end of play yesterday. Tillakaratne did not take the field in the West Indies second innings yesterday.

"Alex was behind me all the time and I had a few pain killers which really helped me," he said.

Tillakaratne had so much faith in Kontouri that he didn't even bother to request for a runner throughout his marathon innings.

Sri Lanka manager Ajith Jayasekera said that Tillakaratne was heavily strapped when he came to bat and he received ice treatment at the end of every session. "Without it he couldn't move," said Jayasekera.

Tillakaratne said he enjoyed getting a double century against the West Indies because he admired their style of cricket the most.

"The West Indies are my heroes and I admire their cricket very much. I enjoyed getting 200 against them," said Tillakaratne. "I was not all that keen about milestones and records, but I enjoyed scoring a double hundred. Before the day, the coach told us to get 150-200 runs lead and we worked towards that," he said.

Tillakaratne said he appreciated the support given to him by all his teammates. "They were behind me all the time," he said.

The left-hander, batting within his limitations has been dismissed by the West Indies bowlers only once in the series, accumulating a staggering 403 runs in four innings and just under 20 hours at the crease, which gives him an average of 403.00. His scores in the series have been 105 (n.o.), 87 and 7 (n.o.) and 204 (n.o.).

Describing the West Indies bowling, Tillakaratne said: "They have a good bowling attack. But we are playing on placid batting wickets, so it's not that easy to bowl on such wickets".

Tillakaratne blamed himself for running out his partner in a record sixth wicket stand of 165, Tilan Samaraweera for 87.

"I think I am to blame for Tilan missing out on a hundred. There was a lack of communication and there was a mix up," he said.

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya rated Tillakaratne's innings as the best he has seen him play.

"Hashan's presence adds strength to the team. It is good to have a player of Hashan's experience in that position. He is batting really well. Being out of the team for nearly two years has made him more determined and mentally tough. That is one reason why he is playing so well," said Jayasuriya.

Tillakaratne returned to the Test side in the series against India and since then he has not looked back.

The Sri Lanka captain said that his side was in a good position to force a win today but said that they needed to work hard because the wicket was still good for batting.

"We got two crucial wickets. If we had one more wicket it would have been ideal, but unfortunately we didn't get it. The situation is good but we will have to do a lot of hard work tomorrow," he said.

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West Indies tour of Sri Lanka