Sri Lanka have a new spin twin pairing: Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis. And these guys look like they’re going to destroy the world and eat the moon for pudding.In their recent match against the “we’re really good at playing spin, we are” Indians, the Lankans recorded a huge victory by an innings and 274 runs. That’s the sort of margin that gets statisticians excited: “highest winning margin in the mouth of July” they say.
The Indians were in a tizz at the crease. Only VVS, Hammer of the Ozzies, showed much resistance to the spinners’ tricks.
But, as the Indians followed on in the second innings, the Lankan twiddlers took apart the fragile tourists. The Indians lasted only 45 overs for their feeble 138 runs, with Anil Kumble’s 12 the pick of the innings.
That the Lankan batsmen could manage four centuries in their abundant innings is testament to the quality of the pitch, and the bowling that would follow.
Now that the Lions have two unplayable spinners, on top of two excellent quicks, we should perhaps just pack up and go home. Maybe put the kettle on and flick through the multitude of rubbishy channels that bless all modern day television. If we’re lucky, there might be a Bruce Lee film on. Or possibly some fat men throwing darts.
Murali took 11 wickets and young master Ajantha won eight.
This sort of thing is going to continue for some time. Perhaps, on occasion, the pitch will suit seam. In which case, Vaas will take 11 and Malinga eight.
We’re screwed, aren’t we?
5 comments:
Terrifying, quite frankly. And the worst of it is the talk that having another spinner might extend Murali's career by a couple more years!
It's something of a relief that Sri Lanka has a "freakishly" (not my word) good bowler who has a very normal bowling action.
That's not your word? Whose word is it?
Whose indeed.
Every writer on Crincfo, Arjuna Ranatunga and Mahela Jayawardene have all used the word "freak" in conjunction with Mendis, e.g. "He's a freakishly good bowler".
He's a beautiful freak.
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