England master switch-spinner
Mendis takes game into the amibidextrous era Seven wickets for Denly and Rashid in 30-run win
Shortly after 7.30pm on a steamy evening at the Premadasa stadium, in a oneoff T20 international which was to be won by England by 30 runs, the sport of cricket lurched forward another stride in its evolution.
Kamindu Mendis, a 20-year-old Sri Lankan, became the first bowler to bowl seriously with his left arm and his right arm in international cricket at senior level. A few had fooled around with ambidextrous bowling in the nets, even bowling with one arm then the other as a Test drifted to a draw.
Mendis’s objective was to turn the ball away from whichever England batsman was on strike. So, when he came on for the eighth over, he used his left arm to bowl his first ball to Jason Roy, who took a single, then his right arm to bowl his second ball to Ben Stokes, and thus he went on. In three relatively tidy overs Mendis’s right arm conceded only 11 runs off his 11 balls to left-handed batsmen, while his left arm conceded 16 off the seven balls he bowled to Roy.
In spite of these statistics, Mendis’s left-armers were more demanding: it is his stronger arm as he throws lefthanded. He set Roy up for a classic leftarmer’s dismissal when England’s opener drove at a ball turning away from him – and was dropped by deep cover running in.
When bowling to left-handers – all the deliveries were to Stokes bar one to Moeen Ali – Mendis did not turn his offbreaks: the ball skidded straight on. But Stokes never found his timing, apart from pulling one right-arm longhop from Mendis for six.
Novelty is an asset for any bowler, especially a spinner: hence Sri Lanka
Batsman riled by ‘disgrace’ comment
Banned batsman David Warner walked off the field in a club match in Australia yesterday after being sledged by the brother of the late Phillip Hughes.
Warner suspended his innings having appeared to be barracked by Jason Hughes, the older brother of the batsman who died after being struck by a bouncer in 2014.
Hughes is said to have called the former Australia vice-captain – who is serving a 12-month ban from state and international cricket for his role in a ball-tampering plot against South Africa – a “disgrace”. have always had an eye out for uncoached bowlers from the back woods. Mendis arrived in traditional Sri Lankan fashion, via school cricket, by attending Richmond College in Galle, but as a batsman – good enough to captain his country’s Under-19 team in this year’s youth World Cup – who only subsequently developed his bowling.
But Mendis was not a complete novelty for England. He was selected for a warm-up game at the start of the tour, and scored a fifty. He had bowled too in that game, against Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, which gave England enough information to keep him at bay.
Roy was dropped four times as Sri Lanka’s catching neared the laughable, but he made much of his fortune by striking six sixes off his 36 balls. Thus he made up for being the guilty party in Morgan’s run-out, and for not telling Alex Hales to review his lbw when the ball was sliding down the leg side. Joe Denly, having last represented England in 2010, proved to be a sagacious selec- tion for England’s white-ball squad, even if his call-up for the Test squad seems less so. Denly was not alone in being bemused by Lasith Malinga, who delivered 13 dot-balls out of 24 as England’s innings rather fizzled out (only 46 off their last six overs), but Denly landed some clean hits before Morgan gave him the new ball.
Denly bowled both openers with non-turning leg-breaks and conceded only 12 runs from his first three overs: not bad at any time, let alone the powerplay with only two fielders out.
As Adil Rashid replaced Denly, and was even more effective, England’s legspinners took the first five wickets, including Mendis, who also batted lefthanded.
This supremacy of English wristspin made almost as much of a novelty as the Sri Lankan ambidexterity. Justin Rose will primarily remember 2018 not for the $10million (£7.7million) he received at the FedEx Cup in September – the largest payday in English golf history – but rather for a feat that did not even come with any silverware, never mind a winning cheque.
“My highlight of this year would be getting to world No 1 [earlier in September],” he said. “I feel it is a career’s work. When I say my achievements it will be major winner, Olympic champion, world No1.”
Rose spent a fortnight at the summit before giving way to Dustin Johnson but went out in the final round of the WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai this morning knowing he could reclaim the mantle. A win would practi- cally have made sure of it, while outright second would have meant Brooks Koepka finishing in the top 12 to ensure his reign as No1 did not last a mere week.
In a tie for second after the third round, 38-year-old Rose strolled to the 17th tee with a two-shot lead over American playing partner Tony Finau but walked off the 18th green trailing by three after finding a hazard on the 17th and the water on the 18th.
Rose, who birdied four of the first eight holes to overhaul Finau’s threeshot overnight advantage, doublebogeyed the 17th and bogeyed the 18th for a 70. Finau, meanwhile, finished birdie, birdie to go 13 under after a 70.
Rose is in a chasing trio also featuring Americans Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele, with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood two shots adrift after a 72. Koepka was in a tie for 28th on one over after a 71, while Rory McIlroy fell to eight over with a 75.