At the 1996 World Cup, Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga promoted Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana to open the batting and instructed them to attack the new ball during the fielding restrictions. The strategy — 'pinch-hitting' — produced unprecedented scoring rates and revolutionised ODI cricket.
Mark Greatbatch had attempted something similar for New Zealand at the 1992 World Cup, but his case was an injury cover. Sri Lanka in 1996 made it a designed, repeatable team strategy. Coach Dav Whatmore (Australian-born but Sri Lankan by adoption) was the architect.
Sri Lanka had qualified for the World Cup as co-hosts. Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and the senior batters formed a strong middle order, but the team needed a new way to make the most of the first 15 overs.
Before 1996 the conventional ODI opening pair built carefully through the first 15 overs while fielding restrictions were in place. Sri Lanka inverted that. Coach Dav Whatmore and captain Ranatunga moved Sanath Jayasuriya, a left-handed middle-order player with a violent square cut, to open. They paired him with the keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana, a tiny right-hander with electric hands and feet. The pair's brief was simple: get to fifty in five overs. They did exactly that against India in Delhi (42 off the first three overs), against England in Faisalabad (53 in the first 30 balls), and most spectacularly in the quarter-final against England (Jayasuriya 82 off 44). The strategy spread instantly. By the 1999 World Cup every team was attempting it; by 2007, Twenty20 cricket had absorbed the principle entirely.
Group game vs India: Sri Lanka chase 272 in Delhi after Jayasuriya-Kalu burst
Group game vs Kenya: 79 in 6 overs
Quarter-final vs England in Faisalabad: Jayasuriya 82 off 44
Semi-final vs India in Calcutta: Jayasuriya 1 (caught early), Kalu departs early too
Final at Lahore: pair fall cheaply but de Silva carries Sri Lanka home
1992
Mark Greatbatch experiments with pinch-hitting for NZ.
1996 February-March
Sri Lanka deploy Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana opening pair throughout the World Cup.
1996 March 17
Sri Lanka win the World Cup; Jayasuriya is Player of the Tournament.
1996-2000
Every major ODI side adopts attacking openers.
“Arjuna told us: hit it as hard as you can in the first six overs, and the rest of us will do the work after that.”
“Dav Whatmore had been thinking about this for two years. The 1996 World Cup was the chance to use it.”
Sri Lanka won the tournament. Jayasuriya was Player of the Tournament. Within twelve months every major ODI side had a designated 'attacking' opening pair: Sachin Tendulkar-Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist-Mark Waugh, Sanath Jayasuriya-Marvan Atapattu. The ODI scoring rate ticked up by 0.5 runs per over within five years.
The single most important tactical innovation in white-ball cricket history. Pinch-hitting opened up ODI batting and laid the conceptual groundwork for T20.
The Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana opening method is the conceptual ancestor of every modern T20 powerplay strategy. ICC fielding-restriction rules were revised through the late 1990s and 2000s in part because of the imbalance the pair exposed. Both became all-time Sri Lankan greats.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.