Mesmeric Mendis Ready to Enter the Pantheon of Spin Greats
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Thursday 10th July, 2008 15 by Dileep Premachandran was difficult to pick out there in the 34th National Sports middle. We never had any real reply hen I was a child, I remem- against him." Festival ber a bumper-sticker that Iverson spawned a generation of Wsaid: "Rugby players have imitators, the most successful being funny-shaped balls." Maybe the John Gleeson, who managed 93 Participation of time has come to unveil another, wickets in his 29 Tests. Possessing something along the lines of: "Army greater variety than Iverson, men bowl wrong 'uns." It was back Gleeson's problem, according to over 3500 in 1950-51 that a 35-year-old former CMJ, was the Stuart MacGill-like jackaroo called Jack Iverson con- tendency to bowl a four-ball every founded an English line-up that so often. So far, there has been no expected at 34th included Len Hutton, Denis sign of that with Mendis, whose Compton and Cyril Washbrook. His accuracy was as much a revelation unorthodox style fetched him 21 as the mechanics behind his demon edition wickets at 15.23, though his late delivery. start meant that it would be the In our age of slow-motion by Reemus Fernando only series that he played. replays and endless video analysis, The 34th National Sports Festival will More than half a century on, it's only a matter of time before the get underway with the participation of over we've just seen Ajantha Mendis carrom ball is demystified. But 3500 athletes at Beliatta tomorrow (10) reduce a six-hitting Indian line-up according to Gleeson, he that fol- marking it the first time the Sports event to rubble on a batsman's paradise at lows the unorthodox path always reaches the Hambantota District. Karachi. On the surface, the strap- has access to greater options. "The The Sports Festival was scheduled to ping Iverson and the far more slight enormous advantage the bent fin- reach Baliatta last year but was later shift- Mendis are as different as bush ger Iverson-type grip gives a bowler ed to Colombo due to bad weather condi- tucker and crab curry, but if you is that if the batsman starts to tions that prevailed mid year delayed the dig deeper you'll find that both had detect it, he can revert to orthodox completion of ground upgrading of D. A. spin. His entire range of deliveries army fatigues in common. Rajapakse Stadium. is doubled, and this gives him more In the Complete Who's Who of The refurbished D. A. Rajapakse Test cricketers, Christopher chance of staying one step ahead of Stadium will be the centre of the National Martin-Jenkins gives us both the batsman." Sports Festival. Eleven of the 24 sports of Iverson's background and his So far, his eight one-day interna- the festival will be worked off at venues unusual method. "At first, he tional outings have brought him 20 bowled fastish, but while on army wickets at 10.25. The Test debut around Beliatta for three days and the service in New Guinea during the must now be a formality, though it's Rajapakse Stadium will host the main Second World War he developed a probably fair to say that Messrs events including the opening and closing peculiar method of spinning the Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and ceremonies. ball, which he gripped in his right Laxman will provide a far sterner While thirteen sports events have been hand between his thumb and bent test for the Mendis repertoire than concluded before the festival proper, eleven middle finger, using the bent finger Yuvraj and Raina did. events including athletics, the major attrac- as a spring to discharge 'the mis- How will the Indians play him in tion, will be held at Beliatta. sile'," he writes. "Batsmen with the forthcoming Test series? Will Over 3500 sportspersons will be taking experience of Iverson came to they treat him as a slow bowler or a part in team and individual events while medium-pacer? Would it be better know that if the thumb pointed Ajantha Mendis was mobbed by journalists on returning to Colombo after a there will be over 750 officials. straight, it was a top-spinner. And if to play him off the pitch than from The 34th edition is also considered as the thumb pointed to the leg side sensational Asia Cup in which he took 17 wickets in five ODIs including six the hand? The slow-motion replays one of the lavishly spent events with its the ball would turn from the off, a wickets in the final. Pic by Nishan S. Priyantha. offer some clue, though it's easier expenditure reaching 30 million rupees this said than done when you have a year. split-second to decide on a stroke. The festival will start with a colourful When he bowls the doosra, with the opening ceremony in the evening and will middle finger in flick mode, the end on Saturday with the closing ceremony. other three fingers tend to be Nearly 5000 school children will take part in raised. That should serve as a visu- the opening and closing ceremonies. al clue, even though the batsman The winners of various sports events Mesmeric Mendis ready still has to be prepared for the ball to squirt off the surface after pitch- will receive cash awards apart from medals ing. India's middle order is as tech- and certificates. The winners, runners-up nically gifted as they come, and the and second runners-up will be awarded contest between them and the 5000, 3000 and 2000 rupees respectively for young pretender will be a fascinat- individual events. In the team events, the ing one. winners will receive 10000 rupees. The first to enter the pantheon and the second runner-up teams will Jayawardene, who has admitted to being made a fool of in the nets, receive 7500 and 5000 rupees respectively. reckons that there's more to come, and it's not beyond Mendis to come up with even more befuddling vari- ations. An obvious one would be a SSC Open Tennis of spin greats cricketing equivalent of baseball's knuckle ball. Alan Connolly, whose ning amok like a bull down missals of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh seam bowling accounted for 102 Siyaguna wins peculiar wrong 'un bowled with the Pamplona's streets, India had rat- Raina especially embarrassing. Sri wickets in 29 Tests, is said to have wrist over the ball instead of under- tled off 76 in nine overs in pursuit Lanka won by 100 runs. bowled a few in his time, helped no neath it." of 274. Given Muttiah The signs had been there days doubt by his experiences as a base- U-18 title Mendis' contribution to the spin Muralitharan's dislike of the hard earlier, when Mendis flummoxed ball pitcher for Victoria during the game is the carrom ball, and there ball, it was to Mendis that Mahela Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik winters. Michael Siyaguna won a hectic three are certainly echoes of what Jayawardene turned, fully aware and Misbah-ul-Haq, none of them Years ago Richie Benaud said: setter against Shehan Gomesz in the Boys’ Iverson did. To bowl his doosra - his that the Indians had never faced soft touches against the turning "There have been plenty of spin U-18 final of this year’s SSC Open tennis A- bowlers around for more than a stock ball, if you can call it that him. ball. Kept away from the Indians Grade ranking tournament now underway hundred years but the four, for me, given his variations, is the off-break Sehwag, who had rampaged to before the final, he was as mes- at the club clay courts in Colombo. The who have broken the mould and - he places the index finger on the 60, thought about giving the first merising on the day as Anil Kumble tournament will go on till this weekend. made batsmen think seriously seam and the thumb underneath ball a good old two-step and whack, had been to the West Indians when Results: about what was coming down the the ball. With the seam then point- but managed to restrain himself he scalped 6 for 12 in the Hero Cup Boys’ Under-18 Singles Final: ing in the direction of the slip cor- pitch at them, have been Bernard just in time. The handbrake didn't final all those years ago. Michael Siyaguna beat Shehan Gomesz don, he keeps the middle finger Bosanquet, Jack Iverson, John work the second time though, and Kumble bemused you with pace 4/6, 6/4, 7/6(4) folded on the stitching of the ball. Mendis's carrom ball darted away and bounce, while Mendis's meth- Gleeson and Shane Warne." A Presumably, that middle finger is as decade from now, we may have to from him to leave Kumar ods are rather more cloaked in mys- Girls’ Under-18 Singles S/F: strong as Miguel Indurain's heart add another name to the list, an Sangakkara with the simplest of tery. Mahendra Singh Dhoni still Shenalie Weerasekera beat Shanelle was, because it allows him to give army private from Moratuwa, just stumpings. The others, epitomising appeared to be in a trance at the Abeysekera 6/3, 4/6, 6/3 the ball a real flick to propel it at the new breed of Indian batsman post-match briefing, where he said: south of Colombo, who is beginning the batsman. who doesn't get to play quality spin "Most of our batsmen couldn't pick to make many think that rumours It was with one such delivery about the death of spin bowling are Girls’ Under-16 Singles Pre Q/F: and is therefore as clueless as most him.