Srilanka vs West Indies – 2nd SemiFinal – T20 World Cup – Preview

Srilanka:

• West Indies are the latest to try to fathom 24-year-old’s wiles
• Sri Lankan’s carrom ball reminiscent of Iverson and Gleeson

It took a single appearance on YouTube for Ajantha Mendis to be pronounced a mystery of the cricketing age. His six wickets against India in last year’s Asia Cup final confounded everyone. Was that an off-break, a leg-break or a doosra? India’s batsmen had no idea and neither did anybody else peering hopelessly at the evidence of the computer screen.

A Sri Lankan lawyer based in the United States, Mahendra Mapagunaratne, spotted a chance to make history. “It is a carrom ball,” he ruled, comparing Mendis’ mystery delivery to the billiards-type board game that involves flicking disks into pockets. Today West Indies’ batsmen will get their chance to see it in the World Twenty20 semi-final at The Oval.

The term carrom ball might never have taken hold butover the past year Mapagunaratne’s perseverance has known no bounds. Journalists have been repeatedly reminded of the phrase and admonished if they mistakenly describe Mendis as an off-spinner.

Editors of encyclopedias have been presented with source material. Perhaps a carrom board, whatever that is, has even been sold somewhere.

It never used to be so organised. When the Australian leg-spinner Bernie Bosanquet first bowled a wrong ‘un, it was briefly called a ‘Bosie’ in his honour but cricket somehow settled on the googly. When Walter Robins, facing a West Indian slow left-armer of Chinese descent, Ellis Achong, was bowled by a wrist spinner and exploded “Fancy being done by a bloody Chinaman”, the term did not gain common usage because Robins began an obsessive writing campaign to The Times.

Mendis’ Sri Lanka record is outstanding: 119 wickets at 14.95 in all formats; 21 at 7.38 in Twenty20. But because his stock delivery is still developing, confusion remains about how best he should be characterised – confusion that Sri Lanka are only too happy to encourage. In his four overs today there will be authentic off-breaks and maybe even a googly or two.

But it is the carrom ball, held between the thumb, forefinger and the middle finger, and propelled with a snap of the fingers, that will claim the attention. Two Australians, Jack Iverson, who took 21 Ashes wickets in the 50s, and John Gleeson, whom only Geoff Boycott among England’s batsmen could read with ease, did something similar.

The carrom ball has the ability to leave the right-hander, just like the doosra that is favoured by the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, South Africa’s Johan Botha and Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal. The difference is that the carrom ball is legitimate while it is only a matter of time before doosra bowlers are suspected of throwing.

Unorthodoxy is common in Sri Lankan cricket. There is the batting of Sanath Jayasuriya, the sling bowling of Lasith Malinga and the brilliance of Murali, born with the deformity of an elbow that he cannot straighten.

Mahela Jayawardene, their former captain, believes that encouragement of individuality is part of Sri Lanka’s strength. When Mendis first came to the Sri Lankan academy he had been playing second division cricket for the army and his formal coaching had been minimal. In other countries he might have been sent packing or instructed to change. In Sri Lanka his difference was treasured.

West Indies:

• Medics working on back problem that kept Edwards idle yesterday
• Captain Chris Gayle salutes paceman’s ability to turn a match

West Indies must wait to see if Fidel Edwards will be fit to open the bowling in tonight’s World Twenty20 semi-final against Sri Lanka. Edwards did not train yesterday as he was still suffering from the irritated nerve in the small of his back which forced him to sit out their win over England on Monday night.

Edwards’ startling pace provides much‑needed inspiration to an otherwise pedestrian West Indies attack and the captain, Chris Gayle, admitted that if he does miss the game it would be a big loss. “He is a key factor for us,” said Gayle. “Fidel is the sort of bowler who can win you games by picking up wickets at crucial times.” The medical staff are still optimistic that he will be fit to play, but it will not be confirmed till the last minute.

West Indies should be clear second favourites for tonight’s semi-final. Sri Lanka have beaten them once already in the tournament, as they have every other side they have played, and are able to pick from a fully fit squad. Twenty20, though, is never so clearcut and the West Indians have one distinct advantage in the fact that the game is being played at The Oval.

The wicket is flat and the outfield fast, a combination particularly to Gayle’s liking. His side have already beaten England and Australia on the ground, and their affinity with the venue stretches back far beyond the start of the tournament to the days when their matches there would attract huge crowds from the expat communities of south London. “We have used this as our home base, the environment is brilliant with all the supporters there.”

“It’s always nice to have some prior experience at a ground playing an important game,” said the Sri Lankan captain, Kumar Sangakkara. “But it’s not to be, so I don’t think we are going to worry too much about that.”

Sangakkara even thought the pitch would play to his side’s advantage. “On a wicket like this, which seems a pretty even track, there should be good bounce and when it comes to our spinners I think if they can get a bit more bounce out of the track they will be more effective.” Batsmen will find it harder to get under them and really hit it long.”

The fact that is harder to do is unlikely to stop Gayle trying. “You can’t go out there with the mentality of not attacking bowlers,” he grinned. “We will still to go out there and play positively.”

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