Carrom Fodder

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LEAPS AND BOUNDS: Mendis made a dream debut for Sri Lanka and continued his meteoric progress against India over the rest of the series.

Ajantha Mendis burst on the scene with an astonishing maiden Test series. Richard Whitehead talks to this pioneer of a unique delivery.

Great spinners tend to leave a legacy through their innovations. Shane Warne, for example, was the man behind the "Slider" while Muttiah Muralitharan famously developed the "Doosra".

But now there's a new kid on the block. He's a newcomer from Sri Lanka and he already has a notable trick up his sleeve. It is said that Ajantha Mendis, with his "carrom ball" bamboozling Indian batsmen, has already enjoyed a more prolific start to international cricket than Murali or Warne.

Alongside those former two greats - world-record holders the both of them - the lowly 23-year-old from the Singhalese villages stands out like a sore thumb. With just a handful of international matches to his name, it is surely early days to attest to his brilliance.

But what a handful of matches he has had. He is neither a wrist spinner nor a traditional off-break bowler and imparts spin by using just the tips of his fingers, and he carries with him a well packed bag of tricks that is a match for even the most spin-savvy of cricket nations; just ask the Indians.

In only his eighth one-day international, which happened to be the final of the Asia Cup, he took the cricket world by storm with his match-winning performance of six wickets for 13 runs; that feat took his tally of dismissals to 20, at an alarming average of just 10.25 per wicket.

On his Test match debut - also against India - he bagged eight wickets in the match, and shared with Murali 19 out of 20 Indian dismissals to elicit a thumping Sri Lanka win.

Like the singular Australian spinner, Jack Iverson, who enjoyed a short-lived yet memorable career of befuddling batsmen, Mendis honed his technique while in the army.

Watching the tyro rip through their cricket side in a club match, Sri Lankan Army officers extended Mendis an invitation to serve and play. Rising rapidly through the ranks to second lieutenant in the Artillery, he also picked off 46 wickets in six games last season; what's more, this was done  at a startling strike rate of 31 - nearly twice as good as 60, which is regarded as excellent.

"The thing with Ajantha is that he has served with the army. He has seen things you and I only read about in the newspapers," Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara said of Mendis.

"Those are the kind of things that will toughen you up. With the situation in Sri Lanka being what it is, that is real pressure, not playing cricket."

Meanwhile, the one strength Mendis' captain, Mahela Jayawardene, underscored in the young bowler was "the ability to take punishment", even as he sought to downplay all the hype his new gun had brought with him.

Jayawardene was one of the few Sri Lanka players who was not surprised by Mendis' early success. "Mendis is something special and for a while I've been telling some of the guys to look out for him."

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