How do you explain the magic of Mendis?

- While teammate Muttiah Muralitharan is credited with developing the doosra — an offspinner’s delivery that goes ‘the wrong way’ — Ajantha Mendis has been the pioneer of what has become known as the ‘Carrom Ball’. The Australian spinner Jack Iverson is believed to have first tried this

- The ball is held between the thumb, forefinger and the middle finger. Instead of being released through movement of the wrist and hand in an orthodox manner, the ball is flicked out by the fingers, in a way resembling someone playing the popular Asian tabletop game Carrom

- The bowler can spin the ball either way with little discernible difference in his action to the batsman. If the centre finger is gripped towards the leg side, the ball spins from leg to offside and vice-versa

- Mendis has so far claimed 34 victims in just six Tests and has looked a threat in the World Twenty20, particularly against Australia, whose captain, Ricky Ponting, he dismissed.

Ajantha Mendis - more than a nice little turner

We admire players who do something different,” says Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s former captain. You can say that again. Sri Lankan cricket seems to encourage invention and innovation to a point where it is almost unconventional to be conventional. Jayawardene is that unique character: a solid, orthodox batsman and, until recently, level-headed leader in a team of mavericks, a school of science and artistry that is taking the World Twenty20 tournament by storm in a way that their predecessors did so unexpectedly and joyously in the 50-over World Cup of 1996.

The spirit of that tub-thumping campaign is retained in the current squad with the ageless presence of Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan. Their longevity is remarkable but so is their Madonna-like capacity for reinvention. When Jayasuriya played a reverse sweep against West Indies last week, Ian Chappell, the former Australia captain turned TV commentator, claimed he had never seen Jayasuriya play such a shot, essentially because he had never needed to.

Jayasuriya, who turns 40 at the end of the month, has favoured the cut shot over the years, slicing and dicing bowling attacks who gave him the slightest width. It was he and Romesh Kaluwitharana who broke the mould back in 1996, “teeing off” in the early overs to take advantage of fielding restrictions. England were infamously demolished in the quarter-finals, Jayasuriya’s contribution was 82 off 44 balls.

Now his “junior” partner is the 32-year-old Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has patented a shot that involves shovelling or scooping a straight, good-length ball directly over the wicketkeeper’s head. Plenty of batsmen have developed the flick over the shoulder to take advantage of a short fine leg but none can match Dilshan’s perpendicular perfection. “I think I’ve only missed it once,” says Dilshan. “Playing the shot means the bowler has to think twice about where he is going to bowl the next ball.” Dilshan also credits his stint with the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League as vital to his cricketing education.

Muralitharan, the other survivor from 1996, is something of a liability in the field but his relentless accuracy and hint of mystery means he remains a vital cog in Sri Lanka’s inventive bowling line-up. While his apprentice Ajantha Mendis went for eight an over against Pakistan on Friday, Murali was as on the money just as Pakistan threatened to make a game of it.

When Twenty20 burst into the English cricketing consciousness in 2003, nobody anticipated the role of spin bowlers. Yet while quicker bowlers, such as Brett Lee, disappear to all parts, allowing the batsmen to feed off the pace of the ball, the slow men are hard to get away. And the clever slow men — like Mendis — can be impossible, as the Australians found to their bemused cost.

Mendis, 24, follows in the tradition of Australian spinners Jack Iverson, who took 21 wickets in the 1950-51 Ashes, and John Gleeson. These are the “flickers”, bowlers who deliver the ball not with wrist or finger spin but by finger-flicking propulsion. Mendis’s killer delivery, which he flicks with the middle finger, is know as the “carrom” ball, after a billiards-type game that involves flicking disks into pockets.

Jayawardene first saw Mendis while he was playing for the Army and appeared at a Sri Lankan net session. “Tom had a look and said, ‘This guy’s interesting’. Everyone was smiling because we hadn’t seen someone like that. He was very raw and didn’t have control but after a year he understood what he was doing and we realised he could be a thinking bowler.”

Mendis’ moment came less than a year ago when he took six for 13 against India in the final of the one-day Asia Cup. He made his Test debut later that month, also against India, and after Rahul Dravid became his first victim, he took 26 wickets at 18 in three Tests.

His stats are frightening: 34 Test wickets at 23; 64 one-day wickets at 13; 16 Twenty20 international wickets at seven and 155 first-class wickets at 16. Strike-rates and economy-rates are all more than acceptable. In the age of the batsman, these are throwback numbers, the sort of figures one would expect from the days of uncovered pitches.

Beyond Mendis and Murali, there is Lasith “Slinger” Malinga, the wild-haired fast man whose bowling arm is disconcertingly hidden behind the umpire until a 90mph ballistic is released with often devastating consequences.

Like Jayasuriya, these men are products not of a system but of a search, a widening of the net, championed by Arjuna Ranatunga, the World Cup-winning captain, to find players from beyond the elite, Colombo-based private schools.

If Sri Lanka have a weakness, one is tempted to say their fielding, yet in that discipline they have pushed the boundaries — literally. Angelo Mathews tried to catch West Indies’ Ramnaresh Sarwan on the long-on boundary, failed but kept the ball airborne as he went over the boundary. Seeing the ball was still in the air, he leapt and palmed it back into play before re-entering the field and returning the ball. His remarkable athleticism prompted an announcement from MCC, cricket’s law-makers, to confirm that his actions were legal because he was off the ground when he pushed the ball back in.

An expected victory over Ireland today will put Sri Lanka one step closer to a Lord’s final that six months ago in Lahore would have seemed unimportant and incomprehensible. After those terrifying attacks and the turmoil of their own country, Sri Lanka are surely the neutrals’ favourite to show the home of cricket next Sunday how the game should be really played.

Source : Times Online

Mendis should’ve been played more by KKR - Sangakkara

The Bridgeford Road in Nottingham on Monday night might well have been a street in Colombo with all the tooting car horns and waving Sri Lanka flags. It was a fantastic atmosphere and we savoured the moment after having outplayed Australia. That was the start and not the end of the World Twenty20, but our win against West Indies suggests that we have been able to carry that energy forward. Hopefully, the same will happen against Pakistan as well.

As captain, though, I am naturally delighted that we have started this tournament so positively, considering the tough group in which we were placed. I knew we had the skills and ability to top the group, it was just a matter of whether we had the self-belief on the match days — we answered that emphatically showing just how close-knit a unit we have become.

I know there were many that had written us off after the warm-up games, but to be honest that was not a big concern for me. Sri Lanka has never had a good record in warm-up games ahead of big events.

Special mention needs to be made for the spinners, Ajantha (Mendis) and Murali. They are magicians and they give us an X-factor.

In fact, I was surprised that Mendis did not play more games for the Knight Riders during the IPL. If used properly, Mendis is a genuine match-winner.

Sangakkara all praise for Mendis

Nottingham: Calling Ajantha Mendis “an attacking bowler,” Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara said bowlers of his ilk were a rarity.

“In Twenty20 cricket where the batsman has to attack almost every delivery he faces, to have a bowler like Mendis, with that mystery and that unpredictability, definitely adds to the attack,” said Sangakkara after Sri Lanka’s six-wicket win over Australia at Trent Bridge on Monday.

Ricky Ponting admitted that his side missed Andrew Symonds, who was sent home ahead of the tournament for breaching alcohol-related team rules. “His (Symonds) departure upset a lot of structures around the team,” the Aussie skipper said.

“Andrew is one of the best international players in this form of the game anywhere in the world. When you lose someone of that ability, it throws a spanner in your works.”

Ponting said he found it hard to comprehend Australia’s run of losses in T20.

“Actually, it is a worrying trend for the team and the group. We will address some of the areas we have been lacking in.

Sangakkara, Ponting hail Mendis

Ricky Ponting is bowled by Ajantha Mendis, Australia v Sri Lanka, ICC World Twenty20, Trent Bridge, June 8, 2009

Sri Lanka began their World Twenty20 campaign by ending Australia's stay in the competition. Their captain Kumar Sangakkara, leading the side for the first time, remained unbeaten and secured victory but reserved special mention for Ajantha Mendis, who revelled in his first outing against Australia in any format.

Ricky Ponting concurred, calling Mendis a "unique bowler" whom they had studied but failed to counter effectively. "We've all had an opportunity to see plenty of video footage of him, but when you're in a Twenty20 game and you've got to go out there and play a certain way, you've got to take the challenge up to the bowlers," Ponting, who was one of Mendis' victims, said. "Today he got the better of us.

"He certainly had a big impact on the game. That was probably the difference in the game that their spinner did dictate to us a little bit through the middle of our batting innings."

On the eve of the game Sangakkara had said that Mendis would have to adapt accordingly as batsmen became familiar with his modus operandi, dissecting him with the help of video analysis. The Australians, however, did not have first-hand experience of playing him and the result was 3 for 20 in four overs. He bowled Ponting with one that went the other way, halting a promising innings of 25 off 15 balls; trapped Shane Watson lbw and breached Michael Hussey's defences as well.

"In a Twenty20 game, where you have to attack almost every ball you play, to have unpredictability, that mystery around him [Mendis] is good," Sangakkara said. "Batsmen will get on top of him on some days but more often than not he's a wicket-taking bowler, an attacking bowler."

Sangakkara expressed surprise at Mendis not being a regular of the Kolkata Knight Riders but said the very fact that he was part of the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, along with 12 other Sri Lankans, would have helped immensely. It may be coincidence but the players from countries with lesser Twenty20 match practice leading into the World Twenty20 - Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia - have struggled in England.

"Even if some of the players did not get consistent games, the fact that they were there, rubbing shoulders with some of the greats of the game, learning from that experience [has helped them]. They were training hard, learning to innovate and it kept them on their toes."

Sri Lanka, as a cricket team and country, has gone through rough times in recent months. Today's game was their first international since the team survived the terror attacks in Lahore and their country recently witnessed the end of a bloody 26-year war. They were reminded of that strife as they approached the venue, where 70 pro-Tamil supporters were holding a lawful protest outside the ground. Sangakkara, though, said that playing cricket was their focus and the team wouldn't bother about anything that was outside their control.

Three hours later, though, the scene outside Trent Bridge had changed remarkably. The protesters had dissipated and the only sounds emanating from outside the ground were deliriously happy Sri Lankan, and Irish, fans singing and drumming they way down Bridgford Road.

Mendis Magic leads Australia out of T20 World Cup

Sri Lanka eliminated Australia from the ICC World Twenty20 with a six-wicket victory at Trent Bridge. Kumar Sangakkara played a captain's innings to lead them across the line, with an over to spare, as they chased 160 after Tillakaratne Dilshan sparked the pursuit with an innovative 53 off 32 balls. Australia were set back by a magnificent display from Ajantha Mendis, who bamboozled with his variations, and although the match went to the final over Sri Lanka always held the edge to book their Super Eights berth.

Australia's stay in this tournament - the international title they don't hold - lasted three days and now they face two extra weeks in Leicester to prepare for the Ashes series. Make no mistake, they desperately wanted to win this event, and further stock their trophy cabinet, but were short on their skills for the second game running against a highly impressive Sri Lanka outfit.

With Sangakkara at the crease there was a sense of calm about the run-chase, even when the asking rate grew in excess of nine-per-over for a moment in the closing stages, and he was aided by a sparkling cameo from Jehan Mubarak. When Mubarak came to the crease a charged-up Brett Lee had bounced out Chamara Silva and he followed it up with three dot balls. However, Lee sent down a wide and the extra ball of the over was clouted over deep midwicket and you could see Australian shoulders slump.

In the next over Sangakkara, one of the most impressive cricketers in the world on and off the field, completed a classy fifty off 40 balls with a delicate dab-sweep off Nathan Backen. With 14 needed off two overs there was no way back for Australia and Mubarak cleared the ropes again before a wide sealed their elimination.

When Australia slumped to 94 for 6 in the 15th over the match was shaping to be very one-sided, but they added 65 runs in the last five overs to give the bowlers something to defend. However, they needed early wickets and despite a fine catch by David Warner to remove Sanath Jayasuriya the game was carried away from them through a fine innings from Dilshan.

He took 16 off Shane Watson's flustered first over, showing his full range of shots including a mow over midwicket and a deft sweep over fine leg, while his 26-ball half-century arrived with an extraordinarily cheeky top-edge flick over the wicketkeeper's head. Dilshan needed some convincing to opening the batting, but his elevation has been a revelation and he has the power to clear the in-field but also the subtle touch to manoeuvre the ball.

It needed a cracking delivery from Michael Clarke - his first - that pitched on leg, spun and hit middle to end Dilshan's innings and a period of tight bowling from the spinners gave Australia a slim lifeline. Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene were content to deal in singles, but with the run-rate climbing fractionally Jaywardene tried to go over the top and got an outside edge to backward point.

Sangakkara, though, knew perfectly when to pick his moments and deposited Nathan Haurtiz for two sixes in his last over, which went for 16. Lee, under huge pressure after his pasting at the hands of West Indies, tried to conjure a comeback but Australia just hadn't made enough runs.

The tone had been set in the first over of the match when Warner carved Angelo Mathews - a surprise new-ball option on his debut - to point but the key was always going to be Sri Lanka's spin. Watson and Ricky Ponting had begun to locate the boundary regularly when Mendis was thrown the ball for the final over of the Powerplay and the game changed.

He could have had Watson leg before with his first ball as he was beaten by one turning from leg to off, then with the final delivery of a brilliant over he uprooted Ponting's leg stump as the captain backed away. In his next over Mendis nailed Watson on the sweep and the new batsmen were prodding and poking uncertainly against his multitude of variations.

However, it's not just with spin that Sri Lanka's attack has a magical touch. Lasith Malinga's first over had been expensive, but he is an irresistible cricketer who can produce wonderful moments and a superbly disguised slower ball made Brad Haddin look foolish as it dipped late and took out two stumps.

Captains can often be left scratching their heads in Twenty20, but today everything Sangakkara tried work perfectly. He brought back Isuru Udana and the young left-armer produced a classy slower-ball that Clarke could only chip back down the pitch, before Mendis claimed his third by pinning Michael Hussey with one that zipped off the surface.

The next over proved Australia's best of the innings as Muttiah Muralitharan was taken for 21 with Mitchell Johnson launching two huge slow-swept sixes over deep midwicket. The damage, though, had already been done and a team so used to competing in the final stages of global events are packing their bags after the first round.

Ajantha Mendis’s Carrom Ball signals end of bent arm ‘doosra’

World cricket has in recent years seen the advent of the ‘doosra’ - the offbreak that turns as a legbreak. Cricket also in the recent past has witnessed the reporting of various offspinners (but no leg spinners) from various countries for suspected bowling actions (chucking).

Since the reporting of Muttiah Muralitharan for a suspect bowling action and his clearing by the ICC’s tests at the University of W. Australia, there has been an increase of international off spinners bowling ‘doosras’ and being reported: Marlon Samuels, Johan Botha and Saeed Ajmal.

.This is not a coincidence. The problem for off spinners who bowl the ‘doosra’ is that they rotate the wrist inwards towards the head to get the back of the wrist facing the batsman to deliver the ‘doosra’ legbreak. This automatically bends the elbow. The reader can try it by cocking the wrist away from the head for a legb reak and towards the head for the off break. The former has a straight elbow and the latter has an elbow bending outwards.

The result is that when an offspinner such as those named above, bowls a "back of the wrist" doosra, the elbow flexes; the greater the "rip" imparted on the ‘doosra’, the larger the elbow flexion.

Not surprisingly, by just using published images of these ‘doosra’ bowlers and by measuring their elbow flexion above shoulder height in the delivery swing one can get an idea of the large degree of elbow bend imparted by bowling the ‘doosra’.

Taking published images of Botha, Murali, Samuels and Amjal, the average elbow bend is around 60 degrees (*). And for the big ‘doosra’ ripper’s of Botha and Murali the elbow bend is 70*.

Ajantha Mendis, the Army CC mystery spinner who burst onto the cricket scene last year and whose meteoric rise to international acclaim and respect, is an offnspinner whose arm action is impeccablen- indeed the army bowler’s arm is rifle straight!

His ‘doosra’ is different from the other bowlers: while they rotate their wrist to change from off spin to legmspin; Ajantha bowls with a straight wrist but uses his middle finger to impart leg spin to the ball. His "carrom" ball is actually a finger spinning ‘doosra’.

Ajantha developed this delivery on his own in the streets of Moratuwa, and as earlier described by this writer, he is the cricketing offspring of another humble village lad: Sonny Ramadhin who first discovered this delivery in a sugar plantation village in Trinidad some 60 years ago.

So why does a bowler risk the stigma of being reported for chucking by bowling the bent arm wrist ‘doosra’ when he can bowl the "Ajantha Mendis" finger ‘doosra’ and achieve the same leg spin with a straight arm?

Currently, off spinners all over the world are learning to bowl the wrist ‘doosra’, except in Australia where there are none - surprisingly for a country whose players do not hesitate to ignore, tread or overstep the line in various aspects of cricket such as sledging, over-rates, intimidation etc.

An unfortunate development is that locally and indeed all over the world, young players are emulating their bent arm idols and learning the wrist ‘doosra’. Coaches are being asked to teach the ‘doosra’. Do these coaches not know the bent arm ‘doosra’ is a no ball according to the law?

Despite the reporting of ‘doosra’ bowlers for suspect bowling, there is the call from some quarters including ex-cricketers to "legitimize" the ‘doosras’. Daryll Cullilan of South Africa said: "Bowling the ‘doosra’ is a skill and it makes the game more interesting."

But throwing a baseball is a skill (although some purists might disagree), so why not go the whole hog and allow this too? Terry Jenner, Shane Warne’s bowling coach says: "Why should we bend the rules for something that is not legal?

A top local umpire has declared that chucking is prevalent in schools cricket and the most "popular" is the off spinner’s ‘doosra’. But "there is no point in no balling or reporting the offence." Instead the umpires just notify the school coach in private.

Is this the legacy we wish to give to our children and the future cricket generations? For a country is that is renown for its gentle peoples and cultures, its traditions of fairness and the common way and its awards for the ‘Spirit of Cricket’, it may be fitting that Sri Lanka set in motion the call for the teaching and adoption of Ajantha’s finger ‘doosra’ instead of the current bent arm ‘doosra’.

It would be feather in the cap for the SL Cricket Board, its coaching section and the Umpires’ Association to lead the way in this important development and to fight for its adoption by the ICC and the MCC.

Just as a humble village lad started the "mystery" ball a long time ago and another humble lad of Chinese lineage gave us the "chinaman" ball, maybe our Moratuwa lad may one day be best remembered for the ‘Mendis doosra’ that ended the era of the bent arm offspiners.

Source : Lanka Times