“We’ve just had to work on him being really consistent with his lines and with his lengths – the attacking lines that he’s worked on. “One thing Mendis does do is he spins the ball really big,” Arhtur said. He has 26 wickets now at an average of 21.53, after eight bowling innings. Although at the lower levels, Mendis has been thought of as a batting allrounder, it is with the ball that he has announced himself at the top level. Mendis was the Player of the Series in the first full series he has played for the Test side, taking 17 wickets across the two matches, in addition to his contributions with the bat. And it’s testimony to his talent and what a wonderful player he is.”

That’s testimony to the amount of work he’s put in. “In terms of pressure of match situation, and in terms of pitch condition, the innings Dhananjaya played here, it was one of the better innings I’ve seen. He couldn’t have played it without Lasith ‘Brian Lara’ Embuldeniya at the other end. So that innings of Dhananjaya de Silva’s was paramount. I knew that once we got a lead of 250, our spinners would do the job for us. “On a pitch like this, the ease with which he played was incredible. “Dhananjaya de Silva’s innings was simply outstanding,” Arthur said. He helped Sri Lanka recover with a 78-run partnership with Pathum Nissanka, put on 51 runs alongside Mendis, and then really changed the game with the 124-run tenth wicket stand he managed with Lasith Embuldeniya, who hit 39. Sri Lanka also began their second innings with the bat poorly, however, and had been three down with a lead of only 24 when de Silva came to the crease. Ramesh Mendis’ spell in the first innings brought us back into the game. Once you got in, it became a lot easier to bat. We did know that wickets fall in clumps here. And then, they themselves had a good partnership.

“And then they knocked us over the next day. After day one I thought we were in prime position (Sri Lanka had been 113 for 1),” Arthur said. In the first innings, West Indies had been 24 runs behind Sri Lanka’s total with only three wickets down, when Ramesh Mendis imposed himself on the game, and sparked a collapse. The team won the match by 164 runs, and the series 2-0. His was the type of happy farewell that few Sri Lanka coaches get. Mickey Arthur was quite emotional after his final game as Head Coach of Sri Lanka on Friday in Galle.

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