Deshamanya Deshamanya (; ; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a civil honour. It is awarded for "''highly meritorious service''", and is conventionally used as a title or prefi ...

Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis (born 25 August 1952), known as Duleep Mendis, is a Sri Lankan former

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and former captain of the team. Mendis captained Sri Lanka to their first

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

series victory in 1985. He was primarily a specialist

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, whose best performances came from 1982 to 1985. He is currently the coach of the

Oman national cricket team The Oman men's national cricket team is the team that represents the country of Oman in international matches and is governed by Oman Cricket, which became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2000, and gained ass ...

. He was awarded the

(Sri Lanka's second-highest national honour) in 1996.

Early years

He spent his college life at St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa and

S. Thomas' College Saint Thomas or St. Thomas may refer to: People * Thomas the Apostle (died AD 72), Jewish-Christian follower of Jesus and evangelist * Thomas the Hermit, Coptic Desert Father and Saint of the 4th century * Thomas of Maurienne or Thomas of Farf ...

, Mount Lavinia. Mendis also captained the Under 20 1st XI sides of both colleges.

International career

Mendis made his debut for Sri Lanka in 1972, batting at number three against the visiting

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

side. Mendis top-scored in the first innings with 52, and also made 34 in the second innings, but could not prevent an innings defeat. This match did not have international status, and indeed Mendis represented Sri Lanka in a number of non-internationals. His first ODI, however, came during the first Cricket World Cup in 1975, when he made 8 against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in a batting collapse. He was hit in the head by Jeff Thomson in a match versus Australia, and when able to speak again, told the Australians "I am going now", retiring hurt on 32. It took seven more years before Mendis got to play a Test match; on 17 February 1982 he joined forces with the other Sri Lankans against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In that match, he was sent in to bat at number four, but only made 17 and 27 in Sri Lanka's seven-wicket defeat. More defeats followed, and in his first eight innings he only recorded one fifty, in the first Test of three against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. However, on tour of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in the northern autumn of 1982 he showed his real skill. Sri Lanka had lost two early wickets for 11 runs, and Mendis was sent in to bat with

Roy Dias Roy Luke Dias (born 18 October 1952) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played Test matches and One Day Internationals for the national side. An elegant and stylish right-handed batsman he played 20 Test matches and became the first Sri Lan ...

. Their partnership was worth 153 runs, then a third-wicket record for Sri Lanka, and Mendis' maiden century helped Sri Lanka bat out the first day. Then, India amassed 566 for 6 before declaring, leaving Sri Lanka to try to save the draw. Again, the openers fell for single-digit scores, and again Mendis made 105 – which helped Sri Lanka bat until tea on the fifth day. Sri Lanka eventually drew the Test, their first drawn Test series in their history. In the

1983 Cricket World Cup The 1983 Cricket World Cup (officially the Prudential Cup '83) was the third edition of the Cricket World Cup tournament. It was held from 9 to 25 June 1983 in England and Wales and was won by India India, officially the Republic o ...

, Mendis recorded his third

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

fifty (the previous two came in the 1979 World Cup and on tour to

in 1982). However, despite a respectable

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 25.33, Mendis' fortunes were the reverse of the Sri Lankan side. Sri Lanka lost the games in which he made reasonable scores, while Mendis made a duck in Sri Lanka's only win. Mendis recorded a string of poor scores on

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's tour of the island in 1984, only passing 20 once in six Test innings. By this time, however, he was established as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the side, and still picked for the Test match in

that English summer. Mendis made his third Test century as Sri Lanka smashed 491 for 7 batting first amid the rain, and the first Test century by a Sri Lankan

while in office. Sri Lanka drew that Test. A poor World Series Cup in 1984–85 followed, where Sri Lanka only won one out of ten

ODIs ODIS, or the Offender Data Information System is a web based, computerized records management software application to improve the capture, maintenance and quality of law enforcement data that is capable of running in any combination of centraliz ...

, and Mendis was out in single figures four times. Then came the 1985 Indian tour. Mendis led from the front, scoring three fifties and one series-saving century in the third

, as India were defeated 1–0 in three Tests. After that tour, which also included a drawn ODI series, Mendis' career declined, and by the end of his career it was probably only his captaincy that kept him in. He made two Test fifties in his last ten Tests, and two ODI fifties in his last 32 ODIs following the India tour.

Ranjan Madugalle Deshabandu Ranjan Senerath Madugalle (, ; born 22 April 1959) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who currently serves as the Chief of the panel of ICC match referees. He was educated at Trinity College, Kandy, and Royal College, Colombo. He repre ...

replaced him as captain for the last Test that Mendis played, where he bowed out with a rearguard 56 that was, however, not to be good enough to save a draw. He remained within the Sri Lankan cricketing sphere, however, as he was manager of the successful

1996 Cricket World Cup The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup 1996 for sponsorship reasons, was the sixth Cricket World Cup organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The tournament wa ...

side. Later on he went on to coach the Oman cricket team and helped them qualify for their first 2016 World T20 in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendis, Duleep 1952 births Living people Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricket captains Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup Cricketers from Moratuwa Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa Sri Lankan cricket coaches Coaches of the Oman national cricket team Sri Lankan Roman Catholics Sri Lankan expatriates in Oman Deshamanya Sinhalese people