Bengaluru: Bored in a prison cell during World War II, a lanky Australian prisoner of war named Jack Iverson was meddling with a ping pong ball.
He had no real intention of playing cricket, but he liked the idea of getting the ball to turn the ‘other’ way and that with a flick of his middle finger. It entertained him to a degree as he battled depression and beyond in Papua New Guinea.
When the war was over and he returned to Australia, his war-time concept bled - literally - onto a leather ball. He was now ready to unveil to Victoria and the world his invention. With his ‘bent finger’ grip, he befuddled batter after batter for four years. But, only one of those years saw him play international cricket, and that yielded five Tests for 21 wickets.
Iverson would eventually hang his boots, lose his parents, lose his mind and eventually take his own life at the age of 58.
Since, there have been only a handful of mystery spinners of this peculiar variety and all of them have offered novelty unlike any other, but not one of them has introduced the art, the wizardry and the magic of that devious middle finger with more pizzazz than Ajantha Mendis.
Mendis had made the ‘Iversons’ his own. Though they were now being called the ‘carrom balls’, courtesy a Sri Lankan lawyer living in Canada, they were as effective.
Mendis, by the time he called it quits in 2015, had picked up 70 wickets in 19 Tests, 152 scalps in 87 One-Day Internationals and had accounted for 66 victims in 39 Twenty20 Internationals.
More than his numbers though, it’s Mendis’ influence that earns awe. Sunil Narine, R Ashwin, Maheesh Theekshana and several others have the carrom ball as part of their arsenal now.
“…you know it’s so strange to see so many bowlers bowling the carrom ball, but I am proud of what it is becoming and how many are adopting it,” Mendis tells DH after his master class at the Orchids, The International School (Horamavu) in Bengaluru. “I didn’t think it would catch on at the time because it’s tough. It took me four years of practice with a leather ball after learning how to do it with a tennis ball.”
Coincidentally, Mendis, like Iverson, had a background in the forces too, but he revealed that his time was a lot of fun and aided him in becoming the phenom that he did. Iverson didn’t have the same optimism.
“I chose to serve my country one way or the other,” he said. “It only changed a bit when I went on to play cricket for the country, but the idea was the same, and I took it very seriously. “… which is why when I walked away from the game when I realised that I couldn’t perform at that level, and my services could be used elsewhere, at something else.”
That’s the common trait among these mystery bowlers, the Sonny Ramadhins, the John Gleesons of yore: they all run out of steam once their trick is picked.
It happened to Mendis too when India figured him out by 2010. But the fact that his numbers still reflect his proficiency is a testament to what he could have gone on to become. Oh, well. Mendis is now a full-time coach, a certified one at that, and is aching to help Sri Lankan cricket return to halcyon days. “…but they haven’t come to me yet. This team is a good one but we have some communication issues and I think I can help. We need help and we have plenty of people in the country, who have played cricket before who can help,” he noted.
It’s particularly amusing that someone so unique would arrive in Bengaluru to teach hundreds of young kids about the effectiveness of fundamentals.
“You need fundamentals to be unique,” he shot back. “Yes, I had the carrom ball but without being good at my stock delivery, I wouldn’t be effective. That’s what I am teaching these kids. I am telling them that they can be great by working on variations but for that, they need to learn the fundamentals and put in the hard work.
“Most importantly, they need to be serious about cricket. I was and I got this far,” he added.
Not far enough, one could say.
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