Learnt a lot from English League: Kusal Mendis

Just about a few years ago, Kusal Mendis was a fringe player within the Sri Lankan ranks. He was a player who was supposed to get into the scheme of things once Sangakkara and Jayawardene moved on from cricket. Despite not playing for the Lankan national team, Mendis has given a good account of himself on the tour thus far. In five innings in England so far – including in the two warm-up matches – Mendis has hit three half-centuries. None of his team-mates have managed more than one.

When they toured in 2014, not many boasted of the experience Mendis boasted of. Of course, it was his first tour to the country with the Lankans. However, it wasn’t exactly the first time he was playing there. In 2014, when he was fresh out of school, he played for Southgate in the Middlesex leagues. That experience has done him good.

“I got a lot of good experience from coming here for four months, partly because I was on my own,” he said. “I learned a lot about how to adjust to conditions and how to deal with that initial disappointment of not knowing them very well. And also about how to play when it’s cold. I got to do that alone, and got a lot of useful experience from that.” Mendis said.

Mendis also touched upon the sledging and the inch-perfect bowling exhibited by James Anderson.

“No one tried to change my technique much,” Mendis said. “They just asked me to play as I was. Mentally there were a few changes. The advice was mainly about mentally adjusting. They told me about being patient at this level because it’s five-day cricket. That was something they stressed. You get far fewer loose balls at this level. If there are four men in the attack, all of them are very good, and it’s a challenge to score runs.”

“They also told me about how to respond when bowlers talked to me. If we go to argue with them, we lose our concentration. It’s important to focus on the game.”

“It’s a big responsibility. I’ve played there before for my club, and I’ve been thinking about what is possible for me and what needs to be done there. I have to contribute runs to stay in that position and the team. I try to bat the same way every day, with allowances for the pitch. Some wickets you can score quickly and others you can’t.”

“Everyone said it was a good innings. They also gave me some advice on the weaknesses -, especially about foot movement. We’re very disappointed as a side at how the match turned out, but we’re hopeful the next game will be much better.”