Balapuwaduge Manukulasuriya Amith Jeevan Mendis (; born 15 January 1983) is a former Sri Lankan professional

cricket 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 ...

er, who played limited over internationals. An

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

who bowls

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins fr ...

, Mendis has represented

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in the

2012 World Twenty20 The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was the fourth edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 October 2012 which was wo ...

and 2015 World Cup. Domestically, he plays for Tamil Union in Sri Lanka, and he has also played for

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in England during 2017. Mendis announced his retirement from international cricket on 28 December 2021 and migrated to Australia.

Youth career

Mendis was born in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

and went to S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. A left-handed batsman, he debuted in 2000/01 and the following season captained the Under-19 team to victory in a one-day game. He represented the Sri Lankan A side in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. He held the best bowling figures in U19 Cricket World Cup history where he recorded 7/20 v Zimbabwe U19's until his record was surpassed by Australia's Jason Ralston (7/19) at the

2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament held in New Zealand from 13 January till 3 February 2018. It was the twelfth edition of the U19 World Cup, and the third to be held in New Zealand af ...

, which was then surpassed in the same tournament by Ralston's compatriot Lloyd Pope (who took 8/35). He is the only Sri Lankan to pick up a 7 wicket haul in an U19 match.

Domestic career

Mendis made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut on 17 August 2004, for

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

in the

2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament The 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament is the 1st season of the official Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Sri Lanka. 15 teams in total, five representing four provinces of Sri Lanka Provinces (; ) are the first level administrative divis ...

. In Sri Lankan domestic cricket, Mendis has played for Tamil Union since the 2008–09 season. During the first half of the 2017 season, he played for

in England as an overseas player. In March 2018, he was named in Kandy's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named in Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In August 2018, he was named in Colombo's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League. In December 2018, in the

2018–19 Premier League Tournament The 2018–19 Premier League Tournament was the 31st season of first-class cricket in Sri Lanka's Premier Trophy. The tournament started on 30 November 2018 and concluded on 10 February 2019. Fourteen teams took part in Tier A of the competition ...

, he took the best bowling figures in 2018 in a first-class cricket match, with 9 for 53 from 29 overs. He was the leading wicket-taker for Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in the tournament, with 30 dismissals in five matches. In March 2019, he was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.

International career

Mendis made his international debut in the 2010 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series in the 3rd Match on 1 June 2010 against Zimbabwe. He did not get any opportunity to bat as his number didn't come up, but he bowled 4 overs, giving 12 runs, and took two wickets. In his second ODI of the series against India, he scored an unbeaten 35 off 35 balls where Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets. In the final of the series, he took two wickets against Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka won the championship comprehensively. In the opening match of

2012 ICC World Twenty20 The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was the fourth edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, an international Twenty20 International, Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place in Sri Lanka from 18 September to 7 O ...

against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Hambantota Hambantota (, ) is the main city in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. This area was hit hard by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and underwent a number of maj ...

, he came to the crease at 82/3 after 11.3 overs and scored a 43* from 30 balls, hitting 4 fours and a six and scripted a game-changing 49 ball 94 runs partnership with

Kumar Sangakkara Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer who represented Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2015. A former captain in all formats. He was born in Matale, Central Province. In first-class cricke ...

(44 off 26 balls) to help his side reach 182/4. With the ball, he took 3/24 from his 4 overs and ably assisted spin partner

Ajantha Mendis Balapuwaduge Ajantha Winslow Mendis (; born 11 March 1985) better known as Ajantha Mendis, is a Sri Lankan former international cricketer who played for the Sri Lankan national cricket team in all three formats. He is also known as the "myster ...

, who took a record 6/8 from his 4 overs. In the same year, he made his highest ODI score of 72 against India on 4 August 2012. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by 20 runs. On 10 November 2012, he achieved his best ODI bowling figures, where he took 3 for 15 against New Zealand in a rain-affected match in Hambantota. Sri Lanka finally won the match by 7 wickets and Mendis won the man of the match award. After three years of break in international arena, Mendis was surprisingly picked up for the Twenty20 International series against Bangladesh in February 2018. He played his comeback match on 15 February 2018 and took two wickets for just 21 runs. Sri Lanka won the match by 6 wickets. In April 2019, he was named in Sri Lanka's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

. After lean streak by both bat and ball, he was dropped from the limited over squad following the exit from World Cup.

T20 franchise cricket

In October 2018, he was named in

Tshwane Spartans Tshwane Spartans were a city-based franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at SuperSport Park in Centurion. Tshwane Spartans played in the first two editions of the MLS in ...

' squad for the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker for the team in the tournament, with sixteen dismissals in nine matches. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Sylhet Thunder in the

2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League 2019–20, also known as BPL Season 7 or Bangabandhu BPL Presented by AKASH DTH and Powered by TVS (for sponsorship reasons), was the seventh season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level profession ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendis, Jeevan 1983 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Sri Lankan sportsmen Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club cricketers Dhaka Division cricketers Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club cricketers Ruhuna cricketers Kandurata cricketers Sri Lanka Schools XI cricketers Sydney Sixers cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in Australia Delhi Capitals cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in India Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2014 Asian Games Basnahira Cricket Dundee cricketers Kandy Crusaders cricketers Jaffna District cricketers Barbados Royals cricketers Asian Games gold medalists for Sri Lanka Chattogram Challengers cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Derbyshire cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in England Tshwane Spartans cricketers Sri Lankan expatriate cricketers in South Africa Cricketers from Colombo