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.

Not many people seem to be interested in the on going Sri Lanka - West Indies series despite it producing some good competitive cricket. The Windies seem to be a rejuvenated side under Chris Gayle, while the Lankans are hitting a decline of sorts.

I didn't watch any of the tests but I did manage to catch the 2nd half of the Windies' innings in yesterday's ODI. Quite a chase it was. It was also one of the more exciting ODI matches I've seen in recent times.

Chanderpaul's 4 and 6 of the last 2 balls of the innings to secure a dramatic 1 wicket win for the Windies was surely the highlight of the match.

But there was something else that I found quite amazing.

That was Sri Lanka's new spinner, Ajanta Mendis.

Did you see that boy?

His Cricinfo profile says "Right arm slow medium", but he is anything but that. Watching him bowl was quite a sight. The boy released off spinners, doosras, leg breaks, googlies, flippers, straighter ones and everything and anything that an off spinner and leg spinner bowl.

I haven't seen anyone bowl the way Mendis did last night. Shahid Afridi bowls the occasional fast offspinner in his spells of leg breaks and googlies, and even Sachin Tendulkar bowls a mixture of everything, but this Mendis boy was different. In fact I felt he was something special.

His debut performance last night was figures of 3-39 off 10. His 3 wickets came of 3 different deliveries - a straighter one with an off spinner's action, a flipper with a leg spinner's action, and a looping off spinner.

His first class record is quite astonishing - 19 matches, 111 wickets at an average of 14.5. His List A record even more so - 20 matches, 40 wickets at an average of 11.5.

Is he the next big thing of Sri Lankan Cricket?

Is he Murali's long term replacement?

Too early to call but the indications from his domestic record and from what I saw last night, there's a high chance that he is.