Return of Mendis to Lankan squad will pose a threat to Aussies: Roebuck

Sydney, Sep.8 (ANI): Cricket commentator and columnist Peter Roebuck has said that the return of mystery bowler Ajantha Mendis into the Sri Lankan squad for the second Test against Australia is a threat of sorts to those unfamiliar with his trickery.

"It's one thing to watch a bowler on a screen, another to face him in a Test match. Expertise is required in countering the exotic. Mendis has fooled Shaun Marsh and others before now, and the new brigade will need to be on guard. If nothing else, his return will make things interesting, and that on a patch of land once owned by Murali," Roebuck says in a syndicated column that appears in the Sydney Morning Herald.

In his article, Roebuck says no country has in recent times produced more original cricketers than Sri Lanka.

Apart from Mendis, he cites the examples of Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Muthiah Muralidaran, as players who stand out for their unorthodox style of play.

In that time, Sri Lanka has endured a civil war, reporters have been killed, the defeated presidential candidate languishes in jail and interim committees have run cricket.

Maybe chaos can be liberating; maybe organisation can stifle, opines Roebuck.

Muralidaran's freakish style was admired and debated, but not copied. Jayasuriya was the first of the modern breed of blasting openers; he struck the ball with awesome power. Malinga is a round-armer, a bunch long assumed to be extinct.

"No one told these blokes they could not play like that. Instead, they rose by their own lights. Instinct was their starting point and, more importantly, their coaches' as well, but they did not rest on it. Murali added his doosra. Malinga practised his yorkers and slower balls. Jayasuriya kept his game intact, but learnt to pick his moments," says Roebuck.

Describing Mendis as the fourth of the originals, Roebuck says he is a flicker of the ball to put beside Jack Iverson, John Gleeson and Sonny Ramadhin.

"Mendis is as good as any of them and in another era might have lasted as long. His story is easily told, a promising lad observed bowling odd things for a youth side, taken to the Police Club and left to his own devices by a coach impressed with his variations."

Evidently, Sri Lankan cricket is held together by open-minded enthusiasts able to spot exceptional talent. Perhaps there is method in the madness, concludes Roebuck. (ANI)