Ajantha Mendis, Kulasekara crush Zimbabwe

Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, Tri-Series, 2nd match, Mirpur

Nuwan Kulasekara and Ajantha Mendis executed the perfect demolition job to not only complete the win against Zimbabwe in the second match of the Tri-Nation Tournament in Bangladesh, but also ensure a bonus point. In the process, Mendis became the fastest to 50 ODI wickets when he had Ray Price stumped by Kumar Sangakkara, as Zimbabwe surrendered tamely during their chase.

Kulasekara was on fire right from the start as Sri Lanka looked to defend the 210 they put up earlier in the day on a difficult pitch. The Zimbabwe openers lasted just six overs - Kulasekara castling Vusi Sibanda for 6 and then trapping Hamilton Masakadza leg before in the next over.

Tatenda Taibu may have been dropped by captain Mahela Jayawardene off Thilan Thushara, but his luck lasted only a little while more as he played on to a Kulasekara in-cutter the next over. Thushara was rewarded though, sneaking through Sean Williams' defences as Zimbabwe were left reeling at 47 for 4 in the 17th over.

Jayawardene then unleashed spin at one end and Mendis, predictably, struck in his first over bowling Stuart Matsikenyeri. Matsikenyeri's 15 was to be the highest score in a dismal-looking scorecard, as captain Prosper Utseya and Keith Dabengwa exited in a hurry as well. Dabengwa was caught by Jayawardene, who drew level with Mohammad Azharuddin for the most number catches as a fielder, with 156.

Price was completely outfoxed by Mendis when he charged out, as the bowler, in his 19th match, broke Ajit Agarkar's record of 50 ODI wickets in 23 games.

A fine display from Ed Rainsford and a disciplined performance from the spinners earlier in the day had helped Zimbabwe restrict Sri Lanka to 210. Rainsford struck thrice to cripple Sri Lanka's top order, while Utseya and Ray Price tightened the noose by checking the run-flow in the middle overs.

After being put in by Zimbabwe under hazy conditions, the Sri Lankan openers made a solid start. Sanath Jayasuriya signalled his intent with two fours off Rainsford in the first over.

The run-rate never dipped below five as the partnership neared fifty, but having lifted Elton Chigumbura for a six over long-on the previous ball, Jayasuriya fell chasing a wide delivery, caught by Masakadza at first slip.

Zimbabwe took their second Powerplay as Rainsford came back for a second spell and struck immediately, trapping Sangakkara leg before. Jayawardene's miserable run against Zimbabwe continued as he was dismissed in Rainsford's next over, caught behind for a duck by Taibu off a thickish outside edge. Rainsford continued strongly, and when Chamara Kapugedera was caught plumb in front, Sri Lanka had slipped to 89 for 4.

Tharanga moved steadily towards his half-century, but another bowling change in the 21st over, with Utseya bringing himself on, did the trick, as he trapped Tharanga lbw for 42.

Price was then brought on as Zimbabwe switched to spin at both ends, looking to make further inroads. However, Jehan Mubarak and Mathews battled bravely to get Sri Lanka back in the game. They were slow, aiming primarily to consolidate. Their fifty stand took 14 overs but was brought up in emphatic fashion, Mathews hitting Tawanda Mupariwa for a six straight down the ground.

But having taken the third Powerplay in the 42nd over, Mubarak took his chances against Price and ended up holing out to Williams at mid-on, bringing an end to the sixth-wicket partnership of 69. Thushara hit two sixes in a Dabengwa over but Sri Lanka could manage just 22 runs in the Powerplay. Mathews brought up his fifty in the 49th over, and his workmanlike innings ensured Sri Lanka at least had a reasonable total to defend.

Zimbabwe can still make the finals, unless Bangladesh manage a major upset against Sri Lanka in the final match of the tri-series on Wednesday.

Ajantha Mendis, among the best cricketers of 2008

Ajantha Mendis has been nominated as one of the top players for the 2008 cricinfo awards.

Among the nominees for the best performance are players Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith, James Anderson, Harbhajan Singh, Andrew Flintoff etc,

Ajantha Mendis’s name was nominated as he displayed magnificent performance in the final match against India in the Asian Cup.

The jury consisting of Ian Chapel, Tony Greig, David Loid, Ramiz Raja and 11 other persons will announce the winners according to their performance next week.

The Cricinfo awards were introduced in the year 2007 and Sri Lankan batsman and wicket keeper Kumar Sangakkara and Zaheer Khan won the awards for the best batsman and for the best bowling in test cricket while Adam Gilchrist and Lasith Malinga were awarded for the best one day performance.

Mendis spins magic to rout Bangladesh

SPIN sensation Ajantha Mendis picked up three wickets as Sri Lanka closed in on an emphatic win over Bangladesh on the fourth day of the second and final Test in Chittagong yesterday.

Mendis took 3-23 off 10 overs as the host struggled to 62-5 at tea in its second innings after being set a massive 624 to win the match and level the series.

The home side, which made 208 in its first innings, lost its openers with just 22 on the scoreboard.

Mendis triggered the slide when he removed Imrul Kayes (5) in his first over, caught at first slip by skipper Mahela Jayawardene.

Veteran paceman Chaminda Vaas removed Kayes's opening partner Tamim Iqbal (17), having him caught behind, before Mendis returned to dismiss Junaid Siddique and Mohammad Ashraful.

Siddique was trapped leg before wicket while Ashraful edged to wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene after failing to read a googly from the unorthodox spinner.

Raqibul Hasan saw his middle stump uprooted by a reverse-swinging ball from fast bowler Dilhara Fernando and Bangladesh slipped to a precarious 5-52.

Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan notched his second century of the match.

Dilshan, 32, hit 14 fours and a six in his sparkling innings of 143 off 175 balls to steer the visiting side to a declaration at 6-447 in its second innings.

Dilshan, who top-scored with 162 in Sri Lanka's first-innings 384, became the fourth Sri Lankan to score two hundreds in a match after Duleep Mendis, Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva.

Ajantha Mendis is the sorcerer's apprentice

IF you observe Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis at a press conference, you can almost imagine Alice in Wonderland.

Along with the enigmatic smiles as his captain or manager translates his answers from Sinhala to English, there is a sense of wide-eyed wonder, almost as if he's asking himself: “What am I doing here and how did it happen?”

Just three years ago, Mendis, then 20, was trying to figure out what to do with his life. His academic career had been undistinguished, and he was playing for a local club when a chance encounter changed his life.

The Sri Lankan Army provided the opposition, and they liked what they saw of the youngster. After learning that Mendis was unemployed, the army made their move. His mother, a pious Catholic who raised her sister's children alongside her own, was reluctant, but the army's coaches managed to convince her that her son wouldn't be sent to the war front in Jaffna.

When he got to the army, Saman Hewavitharana, his coach, was amazed by what he saw.

“When he joined the army, he had only the off-break and leg-break,” he said recently. “But on his own, he started developing other deliveries at practice.”

The army had no great cricketing tradition and played in Tier B of the championship. In tandem with Seekuge Prasanna, a leg-spinner who dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in India's tour opener, Mendis inspired the army's run to the title. His contribution was 68 wickets at 10.51, and though there was little media coverage of the second rung, the buzz around the grounds where he played forced the selectors to take notice.

An Australian with fond memories of the subcontinent also played his part. In 1969-70, Ashley Mallett took 28 Indian wickets with his off-spin as Bill Lawry's side triumphed 3-1. Four decades on, he holds spin clinics twice a year in Sri Lanka.

Ruwan Kalpage, who played 11 Tests for Sri Lanka in the 1990s, was the chief coach at the spinners' clinic, and Mallett recommended Mendis get some special attention.

While they watched him, they did nothing to tamper with his unique style and repertoire. It's rare enough to find someone who bowls off-breaks, leg-breaks, flippers and googlies with a measure of control, but what Mendis has is a special delivery comparable to Coca Cola's secret 7X ingredient. Like the soft drink, there's real fizz off the pitch, but it's only when you watch the replays that you can marvel at the method behind it.

Holding the ball along the seam between forefinger and thumb, with the seam then pointed in the direction of gully, Mendis propels the ball with the knuckle and nail of his middle finger. If you try it at home, the chances are that the ball will drop somewhere near your feet. He manages to land it perfectly time after time, and after pitching, it zips away from the batsman like a leg-cutter.

Some have named it the “carrom ball” because of the manner in which the leather is flicked towards the batsman, and along with a loopy googly that he disguises beautifully, it remains the most potent weapon in his armoury.

When he made his one-day debut against West Indies a few months ago, commentators such as Colin Croft struggled to classify him. Hewavitharana, his former coach, calls him a “spin mix bowler”, while a Sri Lankan journalist who asked Mendis himself was astonished when he answered: “I'm an off-cutter bowler.”

His variations were far too much for both Pakistan and India at the Asia Cup in June-July, with the Indian humiliation in the final especially acute. The cream of a young batting line-up that had beaten Australia earlier in the year was rendered clueless, and commentators back in India were left to console themselves with the thought that the middle-order legends would all be back for the Test series in Sri Lanka.

After his 6-13 in that Asia Cup final, the hype surrounding Mendis was similar to the fame that David Beckham found with his 50-yard goal against Wimbledon more than a decade earlier.

India tried to play down the threat, with Rahul Dravid saying: “It will be a mistake to focus just on Mendis. We have come up against a lot of bowlers in our time and have succeeded against them.”

Prophetic words, as it turned out. Originally considered a one-day prospect, Mendis began to befuddle batsmen of the quality of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in the Sri Lankan nets. After his Asia Cup feats, the urge to throw him in at the deep end was irresistible.

That it would be a dream debut was seldom in doubt once Sri Lanka's batsmen had piled up 600 against a listless Indian attack. Mendis planted seeds of doubt in his first four overs, and then reaped the reward with the first delivery of his fifth. The carrom ball on middle stump forced Dravid back in his crease, but by the time the bat arced down, the ball had crashed into the top of off stump. Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan were then bamboozled by his variations before a magnificent over fetched him the prize wicket.

At his best, VVS Laxman is a master against the turning ball, the man who demoralised Shane Warne by flicking against the spin through midwicket, and driving inside out through extra-cover. Mendis set him up with two carrom balls that barely missed the edge before a superb googly sneaked through bat and pad.

In the second innings, he took out Laxman and Dravid again to finish with match figures of 8-132 as Sri Lanka romped him by an innings and 238 runs.

“It's hard enough to pick him from the hand,” said an Indian batsman later. “But the way he gets it to spit off the pitch makes him even harder to play.”

Ajantha Mendis puts Bangladesh in a spin | 2nd Test Vs Bangladesh 2008

Sri Lanka bowled themselves to a position of strength despite a rearguard rally by Bangladesh tailender Mashrafe Mortaza on the second day of the second and final Test here on Sunday.

Spinners Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan shared seven wickets to bowl out the hosts for 208 in their first innings in reply to Sri Lanka's strong 384.

It was Mortaza who spared Bangladesh the ignominy of following on, adding 63 for the last wicket with Shahadat Hossain (five not out) after they were reeling at 145-9.

Mortaza hit eight fours and two sixes, one each off Mendis and Muralitharan, in his 89-ball 63. The only other player to offer some resistance was skipper Mohammad Ashraful who made 45 off 100 balls with five fours and a six.

Sri Lankan openers Malinda Warnapura (seven) and Prasanna Jayawardene (six) took their team to 13-0 in their second innings at close for an overall lead of 189.

Mendis, playing only his fourth Test and his first away from home after missing the opening game in Dhaka due to an ankle injury, rattled the home team with his guiles.

He removed Mehrab Hossain (18) and the in-form Shakib Al Hasan for a first-ball duck off successive balls besides taking the wickets of Mushfiqur Rahim (21) and Raqibul Hasan to finish with figures of 4-71.

Mendis, who enjoyed a sensational debut against India last year picking 26 wickets from three Tests, also got able support from Muralitharan (3-62).

The veteran bowler brought to an end a spirited knock by Ashraful, who flayed him for a six and two fours in an over, by having him caught behind.

Earlier Chaminda Vaas dismissed both the openers to deny Bangladesh a strong start in their first innings.

The fast bowler removed Tamim Iqbal for a duck in the opening over and trapped Imrul Kayes leg before for six, Bangladesh slipping to a precarious 26-2.

Mendis picked the third Bangladeshi wicket to fall in the morning when Raqibul Hasan failed to read a straighter one from the bowler and was adjudged leg before.

Bangladesh's batsmen failed to build on the good work of their bowlers who dismissed the visitors after they had added just 13 runs to their overnight total of 371-6.

Shakib picked three of the four remaining wickets to finish with 4-109.

Sri Lanka lead the two-Test series 1-0 after winning the opening Test in Dhaka by 107 runs.

And then there was Mendis | Srilanka Cricket 2008 Review

January 3, 2009

A new dawn: Mendis has already almost taken over the mantle of main match-winner for Sri Lanka

Two thousand eight, according to Chinese astrology, was the Year of the Rat. For Sri Lanka cricket, it was the year of Ajantha Mendis.

The 23-year-old burst into the limelight in the Caribbean in April, bemusing the best of West Indies batsmen, who were at sea against the five varieties of spin he bowled. When Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene threw the ball to Mendis in the first one-day international, in Port-of-Spain, little did anyone realise that it would herald a new genre of spin.

Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan came into the limelight at a time when the art of spin bowling was dying. In the next 15 years or so they raised it to a level it had never attained before. But nothing lasts forever. Warne left the game in 2007 and Muralitharan is nearing the end of the road. The old fears were back that spin would become a dying art.

Then came Mendis.

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, recalled his first sighting: "[Ramnaresh] Sarwan had problems picking him, and from the time we saw this, most of the batsmen retreated to the dressing room and had a close look at his hand on the TV monitor." However, the best quote came from Rob Steen, on Cricinfo: "I have just seen the future of spin bowling - and his name is Ajantha Mendis."

Mendis really came into the limelight in his second ODI series, the Asia Cup in Pakistan, where he spun his team to a remarkable 100-run victory over favourites India in the final in Lahore.

He continued to torment the Indian batting when they toured Sri Lanka for a three-Test series and lost it 2-1. The difference was Mendis, who broke a 62-year-old record, held by England fast bowler Alec Bedser, by taking the most wickets in a debut series - 26.

The strong Indian batting line-up of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman was left so bemused by the mystics of Mendis' spin that they managed only three fifties between them.
With Mendis catching so much world attention it was no surprise when he won the ICC's Emerging Player of the Year award.

New kid on the block Ajantha Mendis, who promises to become Sri Lankan cricket's new chief match-winner, succeeding Muttiah Muralitharan, who has held the mantle for many years.

Bangladesh prepare for Mendis threat

Bangladesh's brave attempt at pulling off a record-breaking chase of 521 in Mirpur rounded off one of the most memorable months of Test cricket in recent memory. It also dispelled the notion that anything over 450 is unattainable in the fourth innings, even if it involves the weakest Test nation. Though the result didn't go their way, Bangladesh's effort has sparked some life and anticipation into the short series, which Sri Lanka were overwhelming favourites to sweep.

Now, though, Bangladesh find the bar raised much higher. The talking point in Chittagong has been the return of Ajantha Mendis to the Sri Lankan squad from an ankle injury. Should he play, the home side will find it that much harder to square the series. Mendis left the Indians clueless in the home series last year and, if he has his way on a slow turner here, Bangladesh could suffer equally. The two-day gap between Tests wouldn't have given Bangladesh enough time to prepare for Mendis. They may have handled Muttiah Muralitharan creditably on a fifth day pitch in Mirpur but Mendis, as recent history will tell you, is a different proposition.