Duleep Mendis still a draw at Lord's

Still having a horde of fans here at Lord's is former Sri Lanka Captain - that dashing, dusky batsman of the 1970s and '80s Duleep Mendis.

Mendis who is now the Chairman of Selectors is here with the Sri Lanka team as selector on tour and has admirers following him from and engaging him in discussion.

On the third morning of the Second Test match at Lord's I was speaking to him, when fans gathered round him, requesting for his autographs. The fans thinking that I was also a former cricketer thrust their autographs at me and did I not delight in signing!!

Mendis is best remembered for his two magnificent knocks in the first one off Test match here at the Lord's Cricket Ground in 1984 just when he smashed a century 111, and a 94 just missing out on being the first Sri Lankan batsman to score twin hundreds at the holy land of cricket.

Motoring away

After a blazing 111 in the first innings, he was motoring away and at 94 with another ton for the asking, in his impetuosity to get there, he tried to hit Ian Botham out of Lord's and had the mortification of seeing the bowler taking the catch.

I can't and will never forget those two innings. That was the First Test that England had granted us after we were admitted to the elite league of Test cricket by the lords at Lord's. I was determined to show what the country is capable of.

The century in the first innings delighted me no end. Getting to 94 in the second, I was a bit excited, when it dawned on me that I would be the first Sri Lankan batsman to notch up twin hundreds at Lord's and I probably let my concentration slip.

I was going for a big hit which I thought was the six that would take me to my second hundred and give me that "over the moon" feeling. But when the hit lodged in hands of the bowler Botham, I could not believe it, and it was all regrets walking back to the pavilion, said Mendis with a twinkle in his eye.

Bit of nostalgia

To a bit of nostalgia and that Test at Lord's. It was the first after Test status was granted the country in 1982. We had made several attempts to get into the big league and every time the Lords at Lord's rejected us and wanted us to go back and grow up!!

The ICC even sent journalists to Colombo who went round doing a sniff job of the venues and toilets who reported back that among other things we lacked infrastructure. It was then that the man who was king of local cricket, Abu Fuard who brought the messiah into the helm of the administration the late Gamini Dissanayake.

And what Dissanayake did, to use a bibilical term in getting us into- the promised land of Test cricket - is history now. But the younger generation of administrators and cricketers should be told who Dissanayake was.

It was his grit and determination, with help from men of courage and resolve such as President J.R. Jayewardene, Abu Fuard, R. (Kili) Rajamahendran, Daham Wimalasena and Vasantha Coomaraswamy who broke through the defence of the lords at Lord's that we are today in that promised land the land of Test cricket.

Exhilarating knocks

And back to Duleep Mendis and those two exhilarating knocks will remain etched in his mind. When Mendis was making waves with the bat scoring heavily in inter-school cricket and then for SSC in club cricket, I had the good fortune of playing with and against him.

He was playing for the Maitland Place Club and me for Saracens. After I had a good Sara season scoring heavily for my club, I was picked to play for the Board President's XI led by Michael Tissera against Hong Kong in 1972.

Other members of that team that come to mind are - Duleep Mendis, David Heyn, Ralston Burke, Nihal Seneviratne, Denham Juriansz, Ravi Sathasivam, Jagath Fernando, Amaresh Rajaratnam and Gajan Pathmanathan. We beat Hong Kong by innings, and if my memory serves me right with Mendis, Fernando and Tissera scoring centuries.

A little anecdote - when that team was training to meet Hong Kong it was customary after practice for Tissera to discuss strategy. Tissera would ask every bowler as to what field he would bowl to.

Opening bowler

When it came to Nihal Seneviratne, who was our opening bowler Tissera asked him; Nihal how do you go?. By bus, came the prompt reply which had the rest of the members in stitiches of laughter.

Incidentally, Nihal is the son of former Sports Editor of the 'Daily News', Christie Seneviratne. Father and son both played cricket for Wesley College.

That was also the year 1972 - when limited-over cricket was first introduced to Sri Lanka and contested for the Browns Trophy. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I had the honour of being the first Sri Lankan to score the first century in that style of cricket. I made an unbeaten 100 playing for Saracens against my old club the Tamil Union.

Father figure

In those days Christie was a father figure to all cub reporters, as we were called then, when we were cutting our teeth in journalism. Covering Cricket Board meetings then, with Robert Senanayake as President, Christie would tell us what to write and what was off the record.

He had a vehicle which was a luxury at that time. So after the Board Meetings, he would ungrudgingly drop me at the Times of Ceylon. Christie was a man of fun and laughter and was a wonderful raconteur. May the Lord Rest his Soul.

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