Mendis' challenge begins now

Video machines and laptops will start whirring, chewing up Ajantha Mendis' every step, his every variation, his every grip.

Lord knows how they classify Ajantha Mendis in other areas of the world but round these parts, people of a certain vintage will most likely refer to him as a finger bowler.

These were types found mostly in Karachi in the 1970s, tennis ball in hand and an unresponsive tarmac road or cement pitch to bowl on, odds stacked against them. The ball was squeezed in the kind of grip Jack Iverson had, or for locals, similar to how you would strike the striker on a carrom board.

On pitching and regaining its original shape again the ball would shoot through, with sharp spin either way, predictably leaving batsmen none the wiser. Nadeem Moosa was a modest first-class left-arm spinner with the cricket ball in hand but a lethal finger champion with the tennis ball. His success on the local circuit, goes the urban legend, hastened the prevalence of the taped tennis ball: the logic being it was harder to squeeze and thus spin.

But if Mendis keeps bowling as he has done through the Asia Cup, through his brief career so far, eventually people will not much care how to typecast him. Mendis is what he is, for now at least.

His approach to the crease is less run-up and more the hurried walk-through of a harried financial executive. The grips are of the kind super slo-mo was really created for. The absence of a stock ball is the only other tangible conclusion from eight quality overs tonight and many more through the last two weeks. Some he turns one way, some the other, though the most profitable delivery here was the one that threatened much yet did nothing but fizz on straight. In this there were shades of early 1990s Anil Kumble, just wackier and less earnest.

And like Kumble, for tonight at least, he located not just the arrow-straight line but the length: too far forward, you look a fool, stay back and risk being trapped. Admittedly, some of his victims gave themselves up, though it can be argued that in playing for something that never came, the victory is also the bowler's. The legbreak to remove RP Singh should've been reserved for a more capable opponent. Even a hat-trick could've been his, but you suspect more opportunities might come his way against clueless tailenders.

	The mystery is now out in the open and every batsman is out to solve it. The real challenge for Mendis, of uncertain categorisation, to maintain that secrecy, begins now

His most remarkable achievement of the night, however, was that facing the great Muttiah Muralitharan appeared a doddle by comparison. Mahendra Singh Dhoni said later that he just couldn't be read at all. His men weren't alone; Mahela Jayawardene admitted he'd been bowled a couple of times facing Mendis and that Kumar Sangakkarra spent an hour a day in the nets before the tournament keeping to Mendis, trying to pick up his variations. It's one thing, Jayawardene said, to read him from the hand, another altogether to then play him off the pitch.

Jayawardene's ploy not to play him in the group game against India was less to rest him than to keep him cloaked in secrecy, though he coyly suggested otherwise later. There has been a growing curiosity around Mendis over the last few months, but this performance will propel him on to the big stage, right in to the glare. The secret is now out. Video machines and laptops will start whirring, chewing up his every step, his every variation, his every grip.

A mystery spinner he has been thus far. The mystery is now out in the open and every batsman is out to solve it. The real challenge for Mendis, of uncertain categorisation, to maintain that secrecy, begins now.

Blighted by bad timing, dead pitches

The sight of Ajantha Mendis bamboozling the batsmen was the rare spectacle in the Asia Cup.

For two weeks almost everyone in Karachi - the department store owner, the chemist, the hotel security guard, the hotel manager, the taxi driver - talked cricket. They discussed Pakistan cricket and the lack of stars and, once Pakistan were out of the tournament, they discussed the strengths of the Indian and Sri Lankan teams. But it's probable that none of them, store owner to taxi driver, bothered to actually turn up at the National Stadium. Even an India-Pakistan match could not fill the stands.

It seems, though, the administrators can't see the problem - or, if they can, don't appear too concerned. Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, called a press-conference in the middle of the Pakistan-Bangladesh game, one of the many one-sided games, and suggested the crowds didn't know what they were missing.

The likely truth is, the crowds knew what they were missing. Because these matches were played in the heat of June and July, and with a fair sprinkling of mismatches - five out of six in the first round - there was hardly anything drawing the paying public to the grounds. One of the reasons why Ashraf thought this Asia Cup was the greatest thing since sliced bread was because more than 600 were being scored in every match. It is time administrators stopped disrespecting the audience's intelligence: a flat wicket, predictably yielding 600 runs, with batsmen getting out due more to fatigue than the skills of their opponents, and bowlers present to make up the numbers, is not cricket, even for fans in the subcontinent. The new rule that has the ball changed after 34 overs hasn't helped matters either; reverse-swing, the only potent weapon left with the bowlers, was conspicuously absent.

Hits and misses Best bowling attack: Sri Lanka. Chaminda Vaas can take wickets first up and choke runs later, Muttiah Muralitharan is impossible to score off quickly, and then there was Ajantha Mendis. Best innings in a losing cause: Alok Kapali's 115 against India. Directionless talent was finding its way back, the stroke-making was genuine, and the bowlers helpless. Best bowling in a losing cause: Ishant Sharma suddenly found some life in the pitch in the final. The bounce was achieved from a length, the ball held its line sometimes, and he did enough to take 3 for 52 . Costly drops: Among the many spills in the tournament, the reprieves given to Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina by Bangladesh must have hurt the most, given their desperate search for a win against tough opposition. Best entertainers: Shoaib Malik and Geoff Lawson, in their press conferences. It was not ideal, but you will take anything if you are deprived of on-field action.

Two of the matches - when pakistan played india to stay alive in the tournament, and the final - did portray what the 50-over game still has going for it. Pakistan fought back having been taken for 88 runs in the first ten overs, India rebuilt after losing four quick wickets, but Pakistan again bowled smartly in the death overs to provide another twist in the game. The final oscillated even more; Ishant Sharma wrecked the Sri Lanka top order, Jayasuriya returned the favour with a blinding counterattack, Virender Sehwag threatened to run away with the match, but Ajantha Mendis came up with one of the sensational spells of our times.

These two matches were good because there was time: for teams to come back, for teams to sustain the lead if they have managed to take it, for the batsmen to pace and build an innings, and for the bowlers to set batsmen up. But to have only two such matches out of 13 is not ideal.

Pakistan, the hosts, fielded one of their most unexciting teams since the 1970s; the flair in their bowling was missed the most. Their leadership lacked direction, their captain and coach fought embarrassingly with the media, and they were one of the reasons the Asia Cup take didn't take off at all. They confounded when they beat India, in true Pakistani fashion, but in a measure too little and at a time too late.

As it turned out the Asia Cup didn't do much, with Twenty20 gradually forcing 50-over cricket into existential crisis, to give the fillip this form of the game needed. The only bright spots of the tournament were the revealing of Ajantha Mendis, the return of Sanath Jayasuriya, 16 years his senior, and Bangladesh's first innings against India in which Alok Kapali scored a stroke-filled century. And all along a creepy feeling accompanied the mind: would not the stands be filled had this been a Twenty20 over Asia Cup?

Australia cruise to 5-0 series win

David Hussey pounded the second-fastest half-century by an Australian in a one-day international.

In a series that has been as one-sided as a Möbius strip, it was somehow appropriate that Australia saved their biggest victory for the final match. They completed a rare ODI cleansweep in the Caribbean with a 169-run thrashing of West Indies and in the process highlighted their enviable depth as Luke Ronchi and David Hussey made two of the fastest half-centuries in one-day international history.

Both men were batting for only the second time in ODIs and their destructive striking suggested that they will become valuable members of the evolving limited-overs side. Ronchi stunned the Warner Park crowd with a 22-ball fifty that was briefly the second-fastest by an Australian in an ODI, but he was quickly bumped down the list when Hussey completed his in only 19 deliveries.

The two men were major contributors to Australia's monster score of 341 for 8, which was their highest ever against West Indies, and the home team never looked like making a successful chase. Mitchell Johnson ended what had been a disheartening tour for him personally on a high with 5 for 29 as Australia became only the third team to wrap up an ODI whitewash against West Indies in the Caribbean.

Johnson was handed the new ball instead of Nathan Bracken and made the most of the opportunity, drawing an edge behind from Chris Gayle and deceiving Ramnaresh Sarwan with a slower ball that had West Indies in trouble at 21 for 2. From there it was a steady decline and the only real bright spot for West Indies was the innings of Shawn Findlay, who in his second match showed some much-needed resolve to finish unbeaten on 59. Johnson returned to grab the final three wickets and earned his second ODI five-wicket haul.

West Indies fizzled out for 172 and it was a limp end from a team whose only strong effort in the series came at the same venue on Friday when they lost by one run. On that occasion they were chasing 283; this time the task was way too tall. Australia's 341 was the sort of score they posted in St Kitts three times in last year's World Cup. For a team used to playing on huge expanses like the MCG, the dimensions of the tiny Warner Park were unlikely to contain their powerful strikers.

Most pleasing for a team being led by an inexperienced captain was that the brightest stars were fringe players. Ronchi, the owner of the fastest domestic one-day century in Australia, brought his skills to the international stage with a 28-ball 64 that justified the captain Michael Clarke's decision to promote him to No. 3. No bowler was safe as Ronchi clubbed six sixes in an innings that will keep the incumbent wicketkeeper Brad Haddin on his toes. He gorged on Gayle's offspin, slamming three drives over the long-off boundary in one over, and he muscled Fidel Edwards over long-on and midwicket for another pair of sixes.

Ronchi also proved himself capable of more conventional shots. He square-drove when given width and brought up his half-century with a powerful drive wide of mid off against Edwards. The St Kitts crowd has witnessed some amazing strokeplay over the past couple of years - it's the venue where Herschelle Gibbs struck six sixes in an over and Matthew Hayden made the quickest World Cup hundred - and after Ronchi's fireworks they were treated to more of the same from Hussey.

His half-century was one ball short of the Australian ODI record, set by Simon O'Donnell against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1989-90. It also consigned Ronchi's effort to equal third, alongside Damien Martyn's mauling of Bangladesh in Cairns in 2002. Hussey was aided by some questionable captaincy from Gayle, who asked Sarwan to bowl the 50th over. Hussey brutally dispatched two of Sarwan's legspinners over midwicket and long on - one of the strikes left the stadium - and against the frontline bowlers he swung wildly and accurately. His urgent approach was only possible because of the earlier hard work of his brother Michael and Andrew Symonds.

The pair calmly built a 113-run partnership that ended when Symonds, on 66, edged behind off Edwards. That brought the Hussey brothers together at the crease for the first time in Australian colours. The pair played much backyard cricket in their Perth home as children and there was a flashback to the days of metal stumps for David when his under-edge to Edwards crashed into the stumps at pace, yet failed to dislodge the bail. It capped off a horror day for Edwards, who finished with 3 for 86 from nine overs.

The only bowler to escape with his reputation intact was Nikita Miller, whose 1 for 38 from ten overs suggested West Indies should persist with him for longer than they often do with slow men. In a series where almost nothing has gone right for West Indies, there were at least positive signs from Miller and Findlay.

For Australia, the tour has allowed a series of fringe players to shine. Shaun Marsh played well for his 49 to add to his 81 on debut a fortnight ago, Ronchi has been brilliant behind the stumps and with the bat, David Hussey has two half-centuries from his only two ODI innings and the reinstated opener Shane Watson was the side's leading run scorer in the five games. To cap it all off, Clarke's first two one-day internationals in charge brought victories. The Champions Trophy in September will be a different challenge but for Australia the future looks bright.