A plea for long series

Apologies for having a couple of days off but I was away at the rowing World Cup (read all about Britain's success here) and then yesterday was getting painfully sunburnt on a golf course.

This morning we recorded the first of our summer cricket podcasts, which you should be able to access on the cricket homepage soon. It features Shane Bond and Mike Atherton as well as yours truly, Mark Chapman and, our new regular panellist, Andy Zaltzman. Some may remember Andy from our Bodyline video diaries last year when he was an uncanny likeness for Douglas Jardine. That is if Jardine really was a slightly tubby Jewish-looking fellow with manic hair. Anyway, go and enjoy.

One of the things we discuss is the priority for Test matches in the days of Twenty20. It seems that series are becoming shorter and shorter, with only two Tests scheduled between England and India this winter. The Ashes is sacrosanct (so far) as a five-Test series, although it wasn't so long ago that we played six, but some of the more juicy series, such as India v Australia or England v South Africa really should be five matches long. If the IPL organisers get their way and have a dedicated window in the calendar for their tournament, that will only mean shorter Test series.

John Stern, the editor of The Wisden Cricketer, tackles this issue in an interesting piece for Cricinfo. Why not arrange the calendar so we play a longer series home and away, John argues. His starting point is that England have just come off the back of a 2-1 series win in New Zealand, having been 1-0 down, and the two teams now start again at level. Why not start this England leg of the series 2-1, with three to play?

Australia and South Africa have sort of done this, with back-to-back home and away series in 2005-06, but instead of them being two three-match series, it would have been interesting to have seen them as one six-match series. That said, I think the Ashes needs a year or so's break between episodes just to allow us to all calm down and then build ourselves up again. Anyway, what do you think?

Comments

[Aaron, Gauteng]

Having followed all the Aus-SA back-to-back series since 1993-94, I always feel it's too much, and you're worn out of always seeing the same players, 6 tests in a row over a summer, then you don't see Australia again for 4 years! I'd love to see a 3 match series every 2 years instead.

[The Pav]

Patrick,

I'm a bit concerned about a phrase containing "Britain's success"

Surely, in a sporting context, this in an oxymoron?

Have you been over active in the corporate hospitality tent?

By the way I think Torrington shows a nice sense of irony. Posting comment of record length after an article about longer series.

[Torrington]

CARROM BALL - the latest since the Doosra
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THE NATION [SRI LANKA]
27 APRIL 2008
Written by Sri Lanka's Wisden Correspondent Saadi Thawfeeq
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Meet cricket's new enfant terrible
"The 'carrom ball' is the latest invention in bowling since the doosra"
"Mendis' bowling is like a box of quality chocolates. You never know what you are going to get next, but you can be sure that it is going to be 'finger flicking' good."
By Sa'adi Thawfeeq
The three-match one-day international series between Sri Lanka and West Indies was not so much about the Caribbean's winning it by a 2-0 margin, but the introduction to international cricket of a new spinning phenomenon in the form of 23-year-old Ajantha Mendis.

The series was something of a watershed for Sri Lanka who was looking to building a team for the next World Cup. In the absence of Muthiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof this was Sri Lanka's weakest one-day bowling attack for some time for after Chaminda Vaas's 392 wickets the next best was Tillakaratne Dilshan with 45. Taking this aspect into context, the result was not the key factor but the unearthing of new talent.

With the great Shane Warne having quit the scene two years ago and two of his contemporary spinners Muralitharan and Anil Kumble nearing the end of their illustrious careers, spin it seems was headed for a period of isolation in world cricket as it had been till the early nineties when Warne, Murali and Kumble came into the scene to keep that fine art of slow bowling in the limelight for more than a decade.

But from the moment Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene threw the ball to Mendis in the first ODI at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, a new spin enfant terrible was born to world cricket. In his maiden international appearance Mendis had the cricket world in a spin the way he conjured his deliveries to have the West Indies batsmen flummoxed. Classified as an off-spinner Mendis could bowl five different deliveries in one over which always kept the batsmen guessing what his next one would be. The secret of his success has been his ability to be accurate with every delivery while at the same time displaying variety.

One cricket fan described Mendis' bowling as "a box of quality chocolates. You never know what you are going to get next, but you can be sure that it is going to be 'finger flicking' good."

Rob Steen on Cricinfo said: "I have just seen the future of spin bowling - and his name is Ajantha Mendis."
Veteran West Indies cricket writer Tony Becca wrote in the 'Jamaica Gleaner': "Mendis bowls everything. With a smile on his face as he caresses the ball before delivering it, he 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, and he disguises them brilliantly. The result is that he mesmerises, or bamboozles, batsmen."

Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies all-rounder 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. Ramnaresh Sarwan had problems picking him, and from the time we saw this, most of the batsmen 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. He is a very good bowler, and we will have to go back to [the] drawing board to try to come up with a way to score off his bowling freely."

Jerome Jayaratne, the Sri Lanka Cricket Academy coach described his bowling as: "Mendis is unusual, freaky and has developed a ball which could be described as a 'flicker', which he releases with a snap of his fingers, which is very unusual compared to other orthodox spin bowlers."

The ball Mendis bowls with a flick of his finger is reminiscent of former Australian spinner Johnny Gleeson who had a similar delivery.

The delivery has been coined the term 'Carrom Ball' by Sri Lankan cricket enthusiast and connoisseur Mahendra Mapagunaratne living in Toronto, Canada because Mendis flicks his finger as would a carrom player flick a disc on a carrom board. The Carrom Ball is the latest invention in bowling since the doosra.

For all the adulation he received in his brief introduction to international career these are early days for Mendis who has still quite a long way to go before he can be spoken of as Murali's successor. But the excitement he created with his first three wickets in international cricket – Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy and Jerome Taylor was more than enough for scribes to start comparing him with other spin bowling 'greats'. This has happened to many young cricketers in the past who had failed to live upto the expectations. One hopes Mendis fulfils the aspirations and proves a worthy successor to Muralitharan when the legend finally quits the scene.

Mendis' selection to the Sri Lanka one-day team hardly raised an eyebrow. He had completed a successful second season of first-class cricket with Sri Lanka Army SC finishing on top of the national bowling averages with a haul of 68 wickets at an impressive average of 10.51 and a strike rate of 28.8 balls per wicket. Thanks largely to Mendis, Army SC emerged champions of Premier Tier B.

As Army SC was playing in a lower tier, they did not get the same attention as the clubs in the more prestigious Tier A. Week after week Mendis kept on taking a haul of wickets but his name hardly figured in the headlines, not until Army SC won the title and qualified for promotion to Tier A next season.

Mendis's one-time coach at the Sri Lanka Army, Saman Hewavitharana under whose watchful eyes Mendis developed into a spinner of repute described him as a 'spin mix bowler' because he bowls so many different deliveries in one over.

"When he joined the Army he had only the off-break and leg-break," said Hewavitharana. "But on his own he started developing other deliveries at practice. All credit should go to him for the types of deliveries he bowls. He developed them all on his own by experimenting at practice."

"All what we did with Mendis is that we polished his bowling action and fine tuned him. I have videoed his bowling and whenever he finds that he is not bowling with his usual rhythm, I show him where he is going wrong. That way Mendis has corrected his faults and turned into a match-winning bowler," Hewavitharana said.

Hewavitharana predicts Mendis would turn out to be a better bowler than Muralitharan and a better all-rounder than Chaminda Vaas.

"When Muralitharan broke into international cricket he had only the off-spin and top-spin. Mendis has five varieties," Hewavitharana pointed out.

"The secret of Mendis' success is his strong fingers with which he grips and flicks the ball. He is also not overawed by the big names in the game which is a plus factor. I am sure he will make a greater impression in Test cricket where he will be able to get a lot of wickets through bat-pad catches. Few people realise Mendis's capabilities as a batsman. He bats at number 3 or 4 for the Army and Sri Lanka can utilise him as an all-rounder in the team," Hewavitharana said.

Mendis was a 'nobody' at Kadalana St Anthony's Vidyalaya where cricket was a nonentity. He was actually discovered and brought to Moratu Maha Vidyalaya by Lucky Rogers Fernando, an outstanding school cricketer in the Duleep Mendis mould. Mendis proved an instance success winning the Best Bowler's prize for two consecutive years (2002 and 2003) in the traditional 'Big Match' against Sri Sumangala College, Panadura.

"I joined the Army to play cricket," said Mendis whose late father was a member of the Catamarans SC and played cricket. Mendis said that he has been inspired by watching Muralitharan bowl.

"I learnt to bowl the top spin and the flipper while I was at the Spin Academy under Ruwan Kalpage (former Sri Lanka spin bowling coach). "I am now working on the doosra," admitted Mendis a Private in the Army.

Elite Colombo clubs have intensely campaigned to get Mendis into their set-up, but according to Hewavitharana there are certain procedures in the Army that make it difficult for anyone to leave it so quickly. Anyone joining the Army has to sign a bond and in Mendis's case it is for 12 years from 2003.

[AJ]

Does no one remember a young ben sherbrooke batting all day for 16 runs a few years back. True Grit. YOu dont get that in 20/20, I want 8 test series, 15 days each

[SH,NZ]

As soon as I heard there were to be 3 Tests home & away between Eng & NZ I locked it into my head as a 6 Test series, and it is a surprise to find it actually isn't. But that's just in my head, of course. Shane Bond should be playing! Only Steyn of South Africa appears able to dynamite batting line-ups the way he does. But for the weakness of the NZ Board in standing up to the BCCI...oh well.

[Phil Off-Break]

A Test series is the ultimate 'test' of a national team and of the individual players. This leads me to 2 conclusions. Firstly, that a series should certainly consist of 5 matches - not least to have them played at a variety of grounds on a variety of pitches. Secondly that home and away legs are not necessary. Playing in each climate brings a new challenge and means teams must be adaptable and not reliant on prescribed 'home advantages' to dull the game into predictability.

Why should some teams be demeaned by only being considered worthy of a mini-series? If this is the case then surely the question of having 1st and 2nd division test sides is raised once again...

[Innocent Abroad]

Home-and-away won't work. Imagine India or Pakistan getting a 1-0 lead from three Tests in the other country - what do you think the pitches would be like for the return leg?

Four days would be a better idea - we could have eight Tests in an English summer and still expect our top players to play less Test cricket.

As for International 20-20, if we accept that we're going to play under lights then in England it could surely be played in September and even the first half of October (which is often milder than the end of April when our season starts).