Sports
Dream come true for Kamindu to play at Lord’s
Rex Clementine in London
Having made a sensational hundred in his first Test match in England, young batting sensation Kamindu Mendis says he is looking forward for the experience of playing at Lord’s. The Home of Cricket will host the second Test of the three-match series. This is Sri Lanka’s first Test at Lord’s in six years.
“It was a dream to play at Lord’s. When I was a schoolboy, I always dreamt of playing a Test match at Lord’s. Now that dream has come true. I am really excited. At Old Trafford we had big crowds, I hope it is the same scenario here,” Mendis told journalists.
This is the first time Kamindu has been to England and he has surprised many people as he was comfortable and confident against the moving ball playing a high quality seam bowling attack. “I have not been to England before it was a challenge for me to play at Old Trafford. I wanted to keep things simple and do basic things in the middle. I did well in the first game and keep looking forward to do the same in the upcoming games.”
It was Kamindu’s century at Lord’s that enabled Sri Lanka to set a target of 205 for England. After the top order collapsed in the second innings too, Sri Lanka were heading for an innings defeat but Kamindu stitched a few partnerships to resume the innings.
“We had challenging conditions at Old Trafford. It was much colder than we expected I think we performed the best we could as a team under such circumstances. There was lot of support from other batters. A special mention to Dinesh Chandimal as he batted with an injured finger. His innings was very important to the team. That inspired me to go for a hundred. Even chatting to Angelo Mathews during the partnership helped me immensely,” Kamindu said.
It’s been a brilliant start for Kamindu’s career. He has made all his runs at number seven and there’s a move to push him up the order gradually. Whether that will happen in this series remains to be seen.
The second Test starts on Thursday.