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A great feat

It certainly is a mind boggling feat. It is the stuff of which dreams are made of. Who would have imagined that a frail dusky lad of rustic bearing hailing from a fishing hamlet in a suburb of Sri Lanka would one day enter the hall of fame in the hallowed portals of the Lords of Test cricket.

This is exactly what Ajantha Mendis did on Sunday when he surpassed the record set by England's Sir Alec Bedser for the highest ever wickets tally by a debutante in a three Test cricket series. Tributes have already been showered on the lad who appeared on the scene like a comet and helped Sri Lanka win the Test series against India.

But what is lost sight in the glare of the heady publicity is the significance of the record which stood unbroken for over 60 years. That it should have been broken by a son of Sri Lanka which at that time was a colony of the British who gave the game of cricket to the world is itself is a significant landmark.

It shows the shift in the balance of power in the game of cricket that has been witnessed during the last half a century where the former subjects of the British are calling the shots. Before that cricket was synonymous with England and vice versa.

It laid down the laws and directed the game's course. England was considered the home of cricket where the deeds of its players were chronicled into folklore. Those of the former colonies adopted the English outlook into the game and the numerous phrases and the idioms coined in relations to the game.

Even Ceylon lapped up by the feats of English players and our cricket too was modelled on the English game where even the coaching did not deviate from the straight and the narrow. That was a time when the deeds of some English or Australian bowler or batsman dominated the bar room discussions and the topic of elite gatherings.

Even the then Ceylonese cricketers took inspiration from the British game and almost religiously followed the British art. It is in this context that one should view the feat of Ajantha Mendis.

One by one we (the Subcontinent) seem to be breaking down the grand edifice of British dominance of the game of cricket. It is a also fact that Sri Lanka a former colony of the British who gave the game of cricket to the world have beaten their masters at their own game and gone beyond to conquer new frontiers.

No more would the rarefied atmosphere of Lords inspire awe and reverence as it used to do or the folklore of England's past legends have any relevance. Yet another legend has been ejected from his pedestal.

The simple unsophisticated lad from Moratuwa may have not have even been aware of the exalted company he was being thrust into when he dismissed the equally legendary Sachin Tendulkar to eclipse the record. Nor would he have had an inkling of the stature of the man in the cricketing firmament whose record he eclipsed.

His feat also assumes a note of irony given the present brouhaha made of his lack of communication skills in English - the tongue of cricket. That he had delivered the record to Sri Lanka is what matters to all Lankans.

It is a thump in the nose of those who had hitherto treated cricket as the preserve of the English speaking elite. Today the bulk of our cricketing heroes are village lads who attained world fame through grit and determination.

They have made the grade through sheer talent and urge to succeed. Herein lies the secret of their success. The Mendis saga only mirrors this dichotomy demonstrating another instance when the conqueror turned tables on the conquered.

With this record Sri Lanka cricket has certainly moved into the big league surpassing even the big names of Test cricket. We say this because we now have the highest score in Test history, the highest batting partnership and now this latest feat by a hitherto unknown lad.

This is also a fitting statement to the British establishment that we could not only beat them at their own game but also produce our own legends.

More on journalists and journalism

That is correct in the context of well trained experienced journalists in the profession who have taken up the pen with enthusiasm and interest. How many of today's journalists make a requisite progress to achieve the objective of being a professional in the profession?

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Lakshman Kadirgamar: Ardent campaigner against terrorism

Third Death Anniversary :

Lakshman Kadirgamar, lawyer and politician: born Jaffna, Sri Lanka 12 April 1932; Called to the Bar, Inner Temple 1958; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1994-2001, 2004-05; Honourary Fellow, Balliol College, Oxford 2004; married (one son, one daughter); died Colombo August 12, 2005.

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Kethesh Loganathan: A committed, engaged individual

Second Death Anniversary :

1956, half a century ago, the year I was born, was a strangely seminal year: it was the year that Fidel and Che landed on the shores of Cuba, the year of the Suez crisis, of the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist party and de-Stalinisation; it was the year of Elvis Presley and rock-and-roll.

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