Rex Clementine at Old Trafford

When Kamindu Mendis landed in Heathrow just a week before the first Test at Old Trafford, pretty much everyone agreed that he is in for a tough time. His visa had been delayed and as a result he missed the warm-up game in Worcester. Against the moving ball, facing a high quality attack, in the cold and gloom of Old Trafford having spent very little in England, he had his work cut out. But how well he rose to the occasion.

Kamindu came to England with massive reputation having hit two hundreds and two half-centuries in his first three Test matches. The feeling seemed to be you have scored all those runs in the docile surfaces of sub-continent and let’s see how you go against the moving ball with Mark Wood sending down thunderbolts at 95 miles per hour. Kamindu went on to prove that he is made of sterner stuff.

It took the great Aravinda de Silva four Test tours to England and a stint with Kent before he made a Test hundred in England. It took the great Kumar Sangakkara three Test tours of England and stints with Warwickshire and Durham before he made a Test hundred in England. That gives you an idea as to how tough it is to make a Test hundred in England with the ball always doing something. Kamindu did it in his first Test appearance. Now if that’s not sign of greatness, tell us what is.

This is not an effort to compare Kamindu’s feat with the legendary achievements of Ara or Sanga, but you see something special in this kid.

On the field you will see Kamindu tight in his defense, trusting his strengths which are square of the wickets, hence the cut and the pull a lot. He runs well between the wickets and communicates loud and clear. His prowess of concentration are fabulous as well. Some batters are comfortable against pace and some are clever at playing spin. There are of course exceptionally skillful ones who play both well and Kamindu is one such player. A free flowing cricketer, he seems to know his strengths and weaknesses and has a nice game plan.

That’s what you see on the field. But here’s what people don’t see off the field. Kamindu works very hard at his game spending hours in the nets fine tuning his skills and his success is not anything to be surprised of.

Kamindu debuted in 2022 against Australia at his hometown Galle. On debut he scored a half-century as Sri Lanka beat the Aussies. Then he was dropped and wasn’t considered for two years. Two years absolutely wasted.

Then when Upul Tharanga took over as Chairman of Selectors this year, one of the first things he did was to back Kamindu. Not just in Test match cricket, but back him to be an all format player.

Given Kamindu’s skill set; he can bat beautifully, bowl not just off-spin but left-arm spin if you want and he is excellent on the field. How can you even ignore such a talent? Crazy indeed.

Now that Kamindu is here let’s back him all the way. It was a superb effort by him at Old Trafford where conditions were tough for batting, but Lord’s and Oval will be good batting tracks and he should make merry.

From six for three in the first innings and two for two in the second essay, Sri Lanka did well to fight back taking the game deep. London is expected to be lot more warm and sunny and Sri Lanka will fancy their chances at Lord’s. A few changes are expected for the second Test and Pathum Nissanka looks a certainty for the next two Tests.