Mendis in a good way
West Indies clinched the series against Sri Lanka after they won the second ODI in Trinidad
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
AFP
West Indies clinched the series against Sri Lanka after they won the second ODI in Trinidad. But while revelling in the win, Jamaica Gleaner's Tony Becca is excited about Sri Lanka's young new bowler Ajantha Mendis:
With a smile on his face as he caresses the ball before delivering it, Mendis bowls the off-break, he bowls the leg-break, he bowls the googly, he bowls the flipper, he bowls a straight delivery, he bowls them with different grips and different actions, he bowls them with a different trajectory and at a different pace, he disguises them brilliantly. The result is that he mesmerises, or bamboozles, batsmen - as he did Chris Gayle and Daren Sammy on Thursday.
With the batsman groping forward, Mendis trapped Gayle leg before wicket just when the big right-hander appeared ready to open up. Then he bowled Sammy off-stump - the batsman, looking shocked and confused, playing beside a straight delivery after pushing forward and missing one that spun into the right-hander and one that spun away from him.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo