Sports
Kamindu could be the next big thing in cricket
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.
One time is a shock. Two times, and the second to beat hosts Sri Lanka at their own game, is Zimbabwe. Led by their canny bowling, Zimbabwe pulled Sri Lanka back from a flying start to keep them to 178 on a sluggish Premadasa track. Their opener Brian Benett, quickest scorer in their history, dropped anchor, stayed unbeaten like his team, and Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl and Tadiwanashe Marumani did all the damage from the other end to seal their second-highest successful T20I chase.
Sri Lanka’s innings had three neat divisions: first 29 balls for 54 for 0, next 72 for 82 for 4 and then a finishing kick of 42 for 3 off the last 19 balls. Zimbabwe went Bennett and non-Bennett. Bennett scored 63 off 48; the other three combined for 102 off 64 balls. Raza was the decisive hand: 45 off 26 after the asking rate had gone past 11.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 182 for 4 in 19.3 overs (Brian Bennett 63*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 34, Ryan Burl 23, Sikandar Raza 45; Dasun Shanaka 1-26, Dushan Hemantha 2-36, Dunith Wellalage 1-27) beat Sri Lanka 178 for 7 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 62, Kusal Perera 22, Kusal Mendis 14, Pavan Rathnayake 44, Dunith Wellalage 15*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-38, Graeme Cremer 2-27, Brad Evans 2-35) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
West Indies headed into the Super Eight of the T20 World Cup unbeaten after successfully defending 165 against Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. Spinners Chrishan Kalugamage and Ben Manenti impressed with the ball, and were backed up by some sharp fielding, but the batters couldn’t get the Italian job done.
While Italy exited their maiden World Cup with a win against Nepal and many memories to cherish, West Indies sealed their fourth successive win at the venue where they will face India in their final Super Eight fixture on March 1.
Italy may have sensed an opportunity for another win when they stifled West Indies’ power-packed middle order, but Marrhew Forde’s twin strikes in the powerplay decisively tilted the game in West Indies’ favour. Bowling three overs on the bounce, Forde dismissed both Justin Mosca and No. 3 Syed Naqvi, helping West Indies restrict Italy to 37 for 3 in six overs. Shamar Joseph then bagged four wickets to go with his four catches as Italy were bowled out for 123.
The win was set up by Shai Hope, who hit back-to-back half-centuries and dominated the early exchanges with an array of off-side drives. West Indies lost steam after Hope departed for 75 off 46 balls, but they regained it through their bowlers.
After West Indies were asked to bat first, they hit seven boundaries in the powerplay, and Hope was responsible for all of those. By the eighth over, the West Indies captain had zoomed to a 28-ball half-century. The first boundary by a West Indies player not named “Shai Hope” came in the tenth over when Roston Chase backed away and lifted left-arm spinner JJ Smuts over extra-cover.
Hope peppered the off side, scoring 46 of his 75 runs in that region. Anything that was remotely full and outside off was crashed in the arc between mid-off and point. When Italy dragged their lengths back, Hope was ready for it as well. Like when left-arm seamer Ali Hasan banged one into his upper body, Hope swatted him away over square leg for six in the fourth over. Hope was particularly severe on right-arm fast bowler Thomas Draca, taking him for 20 off nine balls.
Italy finally stopped him in the 16th over when legspinner Kalugagame bowled him with a tossed-up wrong’un.
Brief scores:
West Indies 165 for 6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 75, Roston Chase 24, Sherfane Rutherford 24*, Matthew Forde 16*; Ali Hasan 1-24, Thomas Draca 1-22, Chrishan Kalugamage 2-25, Ben Manenti 2-37) beat Italy 123 in 18 overs (Anthony Mosca 19, JJ Smuts 24, Ben Manenti 26, Grant Stewart 12; Akeal Hosein 1-25, Shamar Joseph 4-30, Matthew Forde 3-19, Gudakesh Motie 2-24) by 42 runs
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka won the toss at the party at Premadasa and decided to bat first. Both, the hosts and Zimbabwe, are through to the Super Eight already, but for Sri Lanka it was important to get in their injury replacements.
The big one, of course, was Matheesha Pathirana, whose tournament ended with a calf injury sustained during the match against Australia. His replacement in the squad, Dilshan Madushanka, came straight into the XI. Also given a look-in was Pramod Madushan, the fast bowler who was already in the squad. In order to organise this virtual bowl-off between Madushan and Madushanka, Sri Lanka rested their lead fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera.
Zimbabwe made no change to the XI that shocked Australia in this World Cup. They were looking to bowl first anyway because of the forecast for some drizzle later on, and hoping to bat in better batting conditions once the lights came on.
Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Pramod Madushan, Dilshan Madushanka
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
[Cricinfo]
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