Bayliss hails young spinner

Mendis - the new Murali?

By Simon Dilger   Last updated: 11th April 2008

Ajantha Mendis

Mendis: poise

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss has praised young spinner Ajantha Mendis after he took three wickets for 39 runs on his One-day International debut for Sri Lanka against West Indies.

The 23-year-old bamboozled the West-Indian batsmen with an extraordinary and unpredictable bowling display as his side narrowly failed to win the first of their three ODIs at Queen's Park Oval on Thursday.

At one point even experienced vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan appeared utterly bewildered by the youngster after he was completely deceived by the flight and turn of a delivery.

Bayliss, who believes that Mendis has a big future ahead of him, said: "I could tell you about his variations if I knew what they were - and even a lot of our guys struggle to know what he is doing with the ball.

"The poise that he had in the first ODI - not just what he was bowling - to be able to keep a lid on things under pressure in ODI cricket is a very good sign.

"This has been the exceptional thing from my point of view. To be able to maintain his composure and do what he normally does was brilliant."

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who won Man-of-the-Match, admitted that he and his team mates found it extremely difficult to pick Mendis.

"He is a very good bowler, and we will have to go back to drawing board to try to come up with a way to score off his bowling freely," he said

"To be honest, when we saw his stats - after 19 first-class matches, he had 111 wickets at an average of 14.54 - we knew he had to be bowling something good.

"Sarwan had problems picking him and from the time we saw this most of the batters retreated to the dressing room and had a close look at his hand on the TV monitor.

"I actually went and had a look at his hand on the computer and it was still really difficult to pick him.

"But I found that once you are prepared to watch the ball closely, it is half the job done.

Bayliss added: "We just told him to go out there and do whatever he has done in the past.

"But it's how young players handle the pressure of international cricket that's critical, and he handled it very well."