Ford hopes Mendis' batting will inspire the rest

Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Pallekele

PALLEKELE: Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford expects the magnificent batting of young Kusal Mendis would rub off on the rest of the team batters and they would take it as a challenge and perform during the rest of the ongoing Test series "I hope it'll rub off on the others. Generally as a young guy performs well, the other young guys look at it and say: "Well if he can do it, I can do it." Hopefully a couple of the other lads will start to do something similar," said Ford during the first Test at Pallekele Stadium.

"It's one of the best innings I've ever seen. It was an absolutely brilliant knock. He seemed to have a plan against all the bowlers - he had an option for all the bowlers. He showed real composure," Ford continued. "The odd one did explode and turn on him but he didn't bother about the previous delivery. He just focussed on the next ball and got on with the job. He is an amazing talent. He's batted at no. 3 in all formats across the last couple of months. He's shown wonderful maturity. He's shown signs each time of the possibility of making big scores. There have been really exciting cameos each time, but fortunately now he's got one of those big innings under his belt and hopefully it will lead to a lot more. "He works really hard and really loves the game. He's an exciting talent and we knew he had something special, but had you still the Sangas and the Mahelas; he would have ideally been blooded at number 6 or 7.

But without anybody really putting their hand up to grab that no. 3 spot, we thought he was the guy to get in and had the technique to handle it. Each time he went out there he looked like he had real capabilities to become a world-class and a match-winning no. 3. So we decided to run with him and he's paid us back." Ford said what made Mendis so different to others is that he 'seemed an extremely relaxed young man'. "Nothing really fazes him. He enjoys playing and he can't wait to get out there and bat. He doesn't seem to show any signs of nerves. He playspositively and plays his shots. He went to his hundred with a six - no nervous nineties. He's just out there enjoying his cricket. That's what it seems to be. He definitely puts a lot of thought into it. He works hard. But there are no signs of him being too bothered, or worried about failure, which is quite a nice way of going about his business."