Kamindu Mendis crowned ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year

Monday, 27 January 2025 00:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kamindu Mendis

Kamindu Mendis, who shone for Sri Lanka with consistent batting displays in the year gone by, has been named as the ICC Men’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year.

Mendis, who scored 1451 runs across formats at an average just above 50, rubbed shoulders with some of the greats of the game in 2024.

The flamboyant left-handed batter had made just a solitary Test appearance for Sri Lanka prior to 2024, but ended the year having not only cemented his place as an all-format resource for Sri Lanka but also becoming their go-to-player in moments of crises and when the stakes were high.

This was on the show during Sri Lanka’s push for a maiden ICC World Test Championship Final spot as the 26-year-old delivered a streak of big scores in the whites.

Mendis’ year in review: 1049 runs from nine Tests, averaging 74.92

Slotting in the middle-order, Mendis was one of the six batters who scored over 1000 Test runs in the recently concluded calendar year – averaging the highest among them.

Making the most of his starts, Mendis hit five centuries and three fifties in his staggering tally of runs, taking Sri Lanka home on multiple occasions.

While on his hot streak, the 26-year-old also became the joint-third quickest to score 1000 runs in Men’s Tests – equalling Sir Don Bradman’s 13-innings mark to reach the milestone.

His exploits with the bat helped Sri Lanka attain crucial Test wins against New Zealand, Bangladesh and England, delivering in both home and away conditions. In England, Mendis finished as Sri Lanka’s leading run-getter in a three-Test series, and played a crucial role in the visiting side’s first Test win in the country after a decade’s wait.

Memorable performance

The southpaw’s most impressive outing came in the second Test against New Zealand in Galle, where Mendis forged his career-best score in the longest format of the game.

An unbeaten 182 in the first innings helped Sri Lanka post a mammoth total of 602/5, and laid the foundation for a 2-0 series sweep for Sri Lanka.

The attacking innings was constructed over 250 deliveries and was laced with 16 boundaries and four maximums, earning Mendis the Player of the Match award.

“I am really happy to be the Emerging Player of the Year. It means a lot for me,” said Mendis on winning the award. “I would like to thank my family, my teammates and my coaches. The innings I am most proud of last year was my century against England because in England you can’t score a hundred easily. It was hard work, that’s my best hundred last year. I put a lot of hard work in the nets at practices and training in the last couple of years. As a team we worked hard and we got some great performances last year and big wins.”