12-04-2008, 07:55 AM
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WAT selector
Selector-World XI (1980 onwards) (ENG-captain) Passed Mike Atherton's 7728 Test runs | | Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Norfolk My main national team: None - I support cricket in general
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| Ajantha Mendis: hype or promise?
Ajantha Mendis has been grabbing headlines of late.... Quote: |
Originally Posted by Profile Although classified as a right-arm, slow-medium bowler, Ajantha Mendis is a spinner who bowls a mixture of googlies, offbreaks, top-spinners, flippers and legbreaks. Batsmen have been confounded by the variety of deliveries he has up his sleeve and are at a loss to figure out what his stock delivery is. Mendis was a prolific wicket-taker for Sri Lanka Army in the 2007-08 season and had taken 46 wickets at an average of 10.56 and strike-rate of 31 from six matches. His performances did not go unnoticed for Mendis was called up to the Sri Lanka squad for the tour of West Indies in April 2008. | After an impressive ODI debut the lad headlined in the cricinfo preview of the 2nd ODI: Quote:
Ajantha Mendis appears to be a spin bowler with a bright future based on the evidence of his one-day international debut [...] at one stage, after being deceived by the flight and the turn of a delivery, the West Indies vice-captain looked quizzically at the young spinner with an expression that seemed to suggest he didn't have a clue [..] Dwayne Bravo [...] agreed that it was difficult to pick Mendis.
[...] The Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss felt it was an promising effort from Mendis, and he too, believes he could have a long career in the game. "I could tell you about his variations if I knew what they were, and even a lot of our guys struggle to know what he is doing with the ball," Bayliss said.
"The poise that he had in the first ODI - not just what he was bowling - to be able to keep a lid on things under pressure in one-day cricket is a very good sign. This has been the exceptional thing from my point of view. To be able to maintain his composure and do what he normally does was brilliant."
Bayliss said the comparisons with Muralitharan will be inevitable, but for now he was just pleased to have young slow bowlers of the quality of Mendis and legspinner Malinga Bandara at his disposal. "Who knows, one day on one of those typical pitches in south Asia, we will pick all three," he said. For the purists, that will be a delicious prospect.
| Given the prospect of the most promising of all current international gloveman 'keeping to the trio... the final comment strikes me as well made!  |