Kumar Sangakkara scales 19,000 run summit in first-class cricket

Legendary Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara has become only the second player in Sri Lankan history to complete 19,000 runs in first-class cricket. Central Province, Colombo District Cricket Association, Durham, Kandurata, Marylebone Cricket Club, Nondescripts Cricket Club and Warwickshire are some of the clubs the former Sri Lankan skipper has played for in the past.

Sangakkara reached the milestone while playing for his current county Surrey against Nottinghamshire in the ongoing County Championship. Having been 18 runs short of the mark, the Sri Lankan southpaw smashed 29 runs before Stephen Mullaney breached his defenses.

The iconic Lankan batsman is now 2425 runs behind leading run-scorer Gehan Mendis. The latter never played internationally for Sri Lanka. However, Mendis famously played for Lancashire (1974-1985) and Sussex (1986-1993). Mahela Jayawardene sits pretty in the third place with 17,843 runs to his name.

While over a 100 international caps have been handed out to many Sri Lankan players over the years, Kumar Sangakkara’s cap is perhaps one that has brought the most amount of value to the national side. Although numbers back up his greatness as a player, Sanga’s brilliance off the field coupled with his humility is something not many cricketers have in their massive inventory.

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He retired from International cricket after several thousand cheering fans, many of them schoolchildren waving Sri Lankan flags turned out to salute Sangakkara at the end of the second Test against India in Colombo. Having retired from international cricket sometime back, he has been making waves with Surrey. He is considered by many to be perhaps one of the greatest batsmen of all time.