Greatness is a far cry word where it does not come overnight to the performer in the sports world. Largely the sports world is all about sweat, blood and tears; of going through the mill to embracing greatness. One has to by and large work hard to get there.
Of course, there have been exceptions to that doughty summit of overnight stardom. In cricket, there was Australian Greg Chappell who anointed himself in a debut test century in a trail of others before him though the silken grace by which he did it set him apart. West Indian Vivian Richards touched greatness by the mannerism he butchered bowlers. In soccer, Argentine Diego Maradona kicked himself to greatness by sheer artistry to turning a game on its head like the Hand of God goal against England in a world cup while in boxing Muhammad Ali skyrocketed to overnight greatness when he knocked out Sonny Liston in a split second.
What has attracted us to that pantheon dizzy height catch word has been the heroic against the odds century by Sri Lankan batsman Kamindu Mendis against the high riding Englishmen. What has set him apart to getting to the loftiness of greatness has been intertwined to scoring three test centuries in only his fourth appearance, the first of which were twin centuries by a batsman batting at No. 9 early this year in March against Bangladesh.
Yesterday at Old Trafford, Mendis blazed to stardom like a trapeze artist taking on a threatening England attack whose apparent game plan was mounted on its foursome pace battery wicked streak of going physical for the man to putting out. The index finger felling of Dinesh Chandimal by Matt Woods and the body language of the English told the story.
It was a lost cause, but the 25- year old who achieved another milestone in the baptism days of his big stage career has set Kamindu Mendis a man apart.
The disdain by which the Sri Lankan went at England’s terriers fighting fire with fire was of bravado of the highest order.
Mendis’ lower order mercurial batsmanship has already caused the International experts identifying him as Sri Lanka’s ‘Lower Order X-Factor’.