Ajantha Mendis: hype or promise?

[Rachael]

Ajantha Mendis has been grabbing headlines of late....

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 thecricinfo preview of the 2nd ODI:

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!

[Aurelius]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Given the prospect of the most promising of all current international gloveman 'keeping to the trio... the final comment strikes me as well made!

I think that if that were to happen then Sri Lanka would almost certainly have to play a decent pace-bowling allrounder to open with Vaas, which they don't currently have. Dilshan and Samaraweera would almost certainly have to make the starting XI, and unless they drop one of those two and play the three spinners with Vaas and Malinga, I don't see how that could happen. Still, I look forward to seeing this Mendis myself. At least his name's easier to pronounce than certain other Sri Lankan players.

[Navdeep]

Originally Posted by Aurelius

I think that if that were to happen then Sri Lanka would almost certainly have to play a decent pace-bowling allrounder to open with Vaas, which they don't currently have. Dilshan and Samaraweera would almost certainly have to make the starting XI, and unless they drop one of those two and play the three spinners with Vaas and Malinga, I don't see how that could happen. Still, I look forward to seeing this Mendis myself. At least his name's easier to pronounce than certain other Sri Lankan players.

Yep, looks a decent enough talent, considering it was his 1st couple of ODIs (1 heavily rain effected..) His first class record speaks for itself.

Regarding his name, dont know about you but i dont fancy saying out loud, "Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslo Mendis" every time i see him on my television screen..

[batoutofhell]

Rachael
I don't know whether the Prasanna Jayawardene (i am not sure about the name) is the most promising of all current international glovemen(i have not seen much of his glove work/batting thats why) but definitely this mendis can be a name to reckon with if he continues the same way he bowled in the 1st ODI but agaisnt better teams.

Still early days for him in international cricket.One will have to wait and see his bowling against team with decent technique against spin(not just windies-no pun intended)

[Collyisamackem]

Well, 6 for 13 against India in the Asia Cup final is impressive. Wonder what'll happen when he starts playing test cricket, and particularly when England, South Africa and New Zealand make their way over to Sri Lanka!

[12th Man]

Too early to tell with Mendis. I reckon a test match with the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly facing him will be an authentic test. It starts tomorrow and I am looking forward to it !

As for the Saffers and Kiwis coming to Sri Lanka, don't expect too much the stars of South Africa inveriably get injured at the prospect of playing in Sri Lanka and the Kiwis always find an excuse based on the war to go home early if they start losing !

[Colourful Chaddi]

Looks promising no doubt about that, he will be the player to watch in tommorows Test match against India.

[Navdeep]

True, although like Rahul and press all over the world have stated, they can only underestimate a couple of guys with a combined 1000+ test wickets at their peril