The year 1969 has a huge importance in world cricket history. The reason being, it was the year a host of international cricket stars were born. Brian Lara, Shane Warne, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain are few of the stars to be born in that year. But the punch-line is, all of them retired at least two years ago and there’s just one man left. Sanath Jayasuriya is the only player born exactly four decades before 2009 and he doesn’t look finished as yet.

The other day in Dambulla he surpassed another age defying cricketer of the previous era to become the oldest player to have scored an ODI hundred. Geoffrey Boycott was 39 years and 51 days old when he scored a ODI hundred in 1979 and held the record for 30 years until Jayasuriya broke it at the age of 39 years and 212 days.

"I am getting old now, but the important thing is I am still scoring runs," was his reply when he was reminded of the fact that he had become the oldest player to score a century in this shorter version of the game.

Jayasuriya has a plenty of records and he wouldn’t be too keen on this new one as some people usually don’t like them when the age becomes the topic of discussion, but the runs he is making at the moment for a team, whose batting is struggling, is invaluable.

No doubt there are signs of slowing down in his movement on the field. The other day he struggled somewhat to take the second run, but his will power is so strong that even when Kumar Sangakara called for the fourth successive double, he responded quite positively. Sangakkara refrained from calling for the second run next time, but his passion is such that Jayasuriya kept on going and then kneeled down at the non-striker’s end panting.

You never know what the future holds for him. Some say he will go on till 2011 while some absolutely doubt it. And, some say that a batsman like Jack Hobbs made a Test hundred even at the age of 47 and others argue that the times have changed and at 40 plus, no one will survive the complexities of the One-day game.

Some of those arguments may be true, but here’s what we feel.

The worst thing one can do to Jayasuriya is to insult or challenge him. If he’s challenged, he will push harder and prove his critics wrong. If he’s insulted, then you are messing up with the wrong man.

In the much publicised selection committee meeting ahead of Sri Lanka’s tour to West Indies last year, there were a few unkind things said when it was decided to drop Jayasuriya. Apparently one selector at that particular meeting never wanted Jayasuriya in the Sri Lanka ODI team again while the captain too wasn’t all that keen.

But since coming back after his heroics in the IPL, he has scored two ODI hundreds, both against India while one of them won the country the coveted Asia Cup as well.

In December, 2007, things were probably better-handled with Jayasuriya when the selectors felt he should retire from Test cricket.

He was gracious and agreed to step down respectfully and as if to prove his critics the point that he could still do it, he smashed a typically aggressive 78, including six successive boundaries off a James Anderson over, in his last Test innings.

Now, the team management is not talking of grooming a player for 2011. The reason being, their batting looks awful and the selectors desperately need Jayasuriya to keep them going.

But things could change pretty quickly, for, in this country, no former cricket captain —from Warnapura to Atapattu— has been treated respectfully during his last days of international cricket.

Doing the same for Jayasuriya would only fuel the man further and he may still have one or two surprises up in his sleeves.