Beware of Dulla-by Rex Clementine Source:Island Amal Silva spoke little English those days. During the Lord’s Test in 1984, when Ian Botham said not so complementary things about Amal’s mother, the opening bat was asking the non-striker and captain Duleep Mendis what’s going on. Both Moratuwa boys, they were playing contrasting knocks. Amal took 255 balls for his hundred while Duleep raced to 94 in 97 balls. The latter was dealing in boundaries particularly targeting Mr. Botham. That the golden boy of English cricket ended up bowling off-spin in that game is a little known fact. That’s Duleep. Never cross his path. Well, the Sri Lankan cricket team will be crossing his path in a fortnight’s time. They take on Oman in two T-20 Internationals, a side coached by Duleep. One thing is absolutely certain, Duleep will be prepared for this challenge. He would have studied every Sri Lankan player; ...

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