Showing posts with label David Barry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Barry. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008

Missing in Action

The blogging world is like a suspense thriller really, you blink an eye and you miss something important.

As always I disappeared for a bit for a day and half during the weekend, and the only reason I am back today is because of the ongoing Pakistan vs India Final of the Kitply Cup.

I usually catch up on the blogosphere on Sundays after Thursday evening, but today was an exception and I realised I had missed quite a bit.

Uncle J Rod got picked as the Blog of the Month in this June's edition of The Wisden Cricketer. congrats Uncle J, you truly deserve it.

Meanwhile the tipping bloggers made their picks for the 20-20 match and the ODIs between England and New Zealand over at Sportsfreak's tipping competition for bloggers.

Miss Field, while congratulating Uncle J for the mention in the Wisden requests for support for the Silly Point, and also ponders who the Wisden will pick next month - us or the Suave one?

Ottayan asks readers on what their superstition used to be during Pakistan and India's matches in the past, while Som wonders why Geoff Lawson even opened his mouth.

Homer decided to go statistical this weekend as he tested Uncle J's theory on Micheal Clarke, and his analysis was as always well backed up blogosphere's statistical grand daddy (or Ninja as Uncle J likes to call him), David Barry.

And, the former Wisden Blog of the Month, King Cricket, told everyone how much they love Paul Collingwood.

While catching up on the cricket news I could not believe that England won the 20-20 match against New Zealand. Its besides the fact that I lost out on a point on the tipping competition, but how can the Kiwis lose to England in the shorter version of the game?

I wonder if $1 million had something to do with that.

In another part of the world, Mohammad Asif, whose case will now not be heard till 22nd June 2008, gave a very interesting interview over the phone booth to a Pakistani newspaper.

Whats funny is that he's thinking about a football career now! 2 weeks in a Dubai jail can do that to you I guess.

And in the West, The Aussies seem to be on top after the Windies had a sniff on day 1. This was Windies' best chance and they blew it up yet again. And that too when the Aussies unleashed their most unexciting spinner ever.

Its always good catching up on cricket - miss a day and a half and you've lost the plot. It was never like this before.

Make your pitch on this post...



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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Perfect Answer to "Do You Know Ajanta Mendis?"

A few days ago, I did a post titled "Do You Know Ajanta Mendis?"

One of my Anonymous Readers decided to answer that question and left a comment describing the history of Ajanta Mendis in Sri Lankan cricket. This is what he / she wrote:

"Gunner Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis (S/158405) of Sri Lanka Artillery created history in the Sri Lanka Army by being the first-ever to enter the National Cricket Team of the country, now played in the West Indies.

Sri Lanka Army Cricket Committee spotted his talents when he played a cricket match against the Army under 23 Division 11 during 2003/2004 tournaments. The Army requested him to join the Regular Force of Sri Lanka Army as there was a dearth of cricketers joining the Army, particularly from Colombo schools. He accepted this offer since his father who was the only bread-winner for the family had already departed them following a heart attack, the week before.

After his basic recruit training he was straight away drafted into the Army Cricket Pool by the Chairman, SL Army cricket. From there onwards he was handled with greater care and guided properly through turbulence. Being a hard working youngster and a quick learner, Mendis was able to cement his place in the Army mainly due to his talents in all three spheres. He was coached initially by Mr Saman Hewawithrana and by Mr Neil Rajapaksha afterwards; both coaches did a good job in guiding him. He has shown a steady progress in all the tournaments organized hitherto by SL Cricket when representing the Army.

Born in March 1985 Mendis hails from a hamlet in Moratuwa. He is the third child in a family of five with an elder brother and a sister. He has had his basic education at St Anthony’s College at Kadalana in his village where there were no facilities at all for sports. He subsequently entered Moratuwa Maha Vidyalaya in the year of 2000. During a cricket coaching class, Mendis’ talents were initially identified by the school coach named Mr Lucky Rogers back in the year 1998 when he was just 13 years of age. In the year 2000 he represented the school under 15 cricket team and he was selected to the first eleven team. He also deputized for the school team captain. This slow medium bowler with a variation of leg spin was adjudged the Best Bowler at the big-matches twice in 2001 and 2002."

Anonymous, you have aptly answered the question and told us that you do in fact know who Ajanta Mendis is. Thank you for sharing this with us. Now we all know a tab bit more about the latest spinning sensation.

David Barry, I bet even you did not know all this.

Make your pitch on this post...



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