Topic: The Evolution of Spin - Mendis Update

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Giving India a spanking in another final is, of course, satisfying, but especially so when when then the man of the match is playing his 8th ODI and returns a career best 6-13.

Ajantha Mendis
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.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/asiacup/content/current/player/268739.html

A while back there was talk that the next evolution in spin bowling would be a combination of both a wrist and finger spinner/leg and off spinner. Looks like Mendis may be it.

Here's an article about how Sri Lanka nutures it's unorhtodox bowlers

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/asiacup/content/story/358668.html

[Uhoh AureliOs]

That article about the unorthodox bowlers is excellent, cheers for that. He sounds like an exciting player - I'll keep an eye out for him.

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Mendis takes 4-72, in the first innings, on his Test debut against those famously poor players of spin, the Indians. Unfortunately for the Indians, Murali is at the other end, who takes 5-84. The Indians are following on.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/slvind/engine/current/match/343729.html

[jooneyisdagod]

Lanka look like they have a ready made replacement for Murali.  Equally unorthodox and equally effective.

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Ajantha Mendis breaks Sir Alec Bedsers' 63 year old record of taking 24 wickets in a three match Test series.

Mendis took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for his 25th wicket. India are 14 runs ahead in the second innings and still have five wickets in hand. More to follow...

[Sid7]

Been watching him since the Asia cup and he looks excellent. Very good control and 4-5 variations, among them a googly and top spinner that are very difficult to pick up. His finger spin also makes him hard to read and with his line and length most of his wickets come by way of plumb LBW's...

will probably be the fastest to 100 wickets till batsmen have figured out how to read his deliveries.

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He's unorthodox coupled to amazing control. He turned up to the spinners clinic with six deliveries. I think he'll keep developing new deliveries/variations faster than batsman will get used to him. I also think the innovative fields that Jayawardena is sets works on batsmen's minds too.

And he's achieved this record against India's remember, who can play spin. Apparently.

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Sri Lanka - Marks out of ten
The summer of Mendis

Jamie Alter
August 12, 2008

This series will always be remembered for the startling effect Ajantha Mendis had on India, starting and ending with his dismissals of Rahul Dravid. Mendis was undoubtedly the story of the summer but this was a Sri Lankan victory founded on consistency, determination and plenty from the supporting act. Cricinfo runs the rule over Sri Lanka's contributors to the 2-1 success



9.5
Ajantha Mendis
The Man of the Series, and deservedly so. Much had been written about Ajantha Mendis before the match, and he completely lived up to the hype. His match figures of 8 for 132 are the best by a Sri Lankan debutant, and he didn't stop there. Combining two-fingered googlies and doosras, skidders and offcutters with unbelievable accuracy, Mendis finished the series with 26 wickets, the most for a three-match debut series. Murali's trickery was to be expected but it was Mendis' aggression and accuracy that rattled India's cage. Every batsman, apart from Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly, was dismissed at least once by him - VVS Laxman fell to him five times. Yet at the end of the series Mendis couldn't say which of them he would remember the most. "A wicket's a wicket," he said. Finger flickin' good.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/slvind/content/current/story/364764.html

[Uhoh AureliOs]

 looks like a real talent. It'll be great when I actually get to see him play

[markmywords]

England have to watch out next summer, providing 20/20 doesn't get in the way

[Robert_B]

I first saw him play in the Asia cup final against India. he absolutely destroyed them, it was amazing, they just had no idea how to play him.

When Murali took the record amount of wickets, people were saying it's a record that might never be broken - but in Mendis there's a real possibility he could give Murali a run for his money.

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Mendis named as ICC's Emerging Player
September 10, 2008
 
Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lanka's 23-year-old spinner, has won the Emerging Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai.

With his mesmerising brand of spin bowling, Mendis has exploded on to the international scene in recent months. In just three Tests against India in July and August, he claimed 26 wickets at an average of 18.38, leaving batsmen trying to work out a new way to play, with his unique array of deliveries, including the so-called Carrom ball.

And it wasn't just in Tests. During the voting period, Mendis played eight ODIs for Sri Lanka including a victorious Asia Cup campaign, and in the process bagged 20 wickets at an average of just 10.25, making him the stand-out newcomer to top-flight cricket.

Mendis was the top choice of the 25-person voting academy, coming in ahead of England's allrounder Stuart Broad, South Africa's fast bowler Morne Morkel and Ishant Sharma of India.

Accepting his award in Dubai from his Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena, Mendis said: "I am delighted to win the award. It is an honour to play for Sri Lanka and I hope to continue playing for my country for a long time to come."

The Emerging Player of the Year Award was one of eight individual prizes given at this year's ICC Awards. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (August 9, 2007) and have played no more than five Test matches and/or 10 ODIs before the start of the voting period.

http://content-www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/369199.html

Well in Ajantha. I don't think Sri Lanka will play England till May 2009 (due to replacing Zimabawe). Of course we might not get to see a lot of him knowing how well England play spin