Gehan Dixon Mendis (born 24 April 1955) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who was an opening batsman for Sussex and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

between 1974 and 1993. He was part of the Lancashire team that won the 1990 Benson & Hedges Cup and 1990 NatWest Trophy. Mendis scored over 21,000 runs in his first-class career.

Career

As a youngster, Mendis represented the Sussex Young Cricketers, England Schools Cricket Association, and National Association of Young Cricketers teams, and in 1974, Mendis played for

Bede College Bede Sixth Form College is a further education sixth-form college, based in Billingham, County Durham, England. The college provides A-Level, vocational courses, apprenticeship training, and higher education courses. It is a TASS accredited c ...

as they won the British Colleges National Knockout Cup. He made his first-class debut for Sussex in a 1974

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

at the

Central Recreation Ground The Central Recreation Ground was a cricket ground in Hastings, East Sussex, used for first-class and List A cricket between 1864 and 1996. The ground was frequently used by Sussex County Cricket Club as one of their outgrounds from 1865; ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. Mendis made one run in the match. In 1977, Mendis was part of a Sussex team that lost to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Pagham Pagham is a coastal village and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, England, with a population of around 6,100. It lies about two miles to the west of Bognor Regis. Governance Pagham is part of the electoral ward called Pagham a ...

; Mendis scored 42 in the first innings of the match. Mendis scored 1326 runs in the 1980 season, which was the first time that he had scored over 1000 runs in a season. During the season, Mendis scored two double centuries. In addition, he was the top scorer in the

1980 Gillette Cup The 1980 Gillette Cup was an English limited overs county cricket tournament held between 2 July and 6 September 1980. It was the eighteenth and final Gillette Cup before it was renamed as the NatWest Trophy in 1981. Middlesex won the tournamen ...

with 296 runs from 4 innings, including two centuries. Mendis scored 119 against Glamorgan and 141 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, both at the County Ground. As a result, he was named the Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year for 1980. In 1985, Mendis almost became the twelfth first-class cricketer to score five

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in six innings; he was 96

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

when Sussex declared in a match against Hampshire. After 12 seasons with Sussex, Mendis joined

for the 1986 season. During his time at Lancashire, Mendis frequently practised in the nets with

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several crit ...

. In 1988, Mendis

carried the bat In cricket, the term carry the bat (or carry one's bat) refers to an opening batsman (no. 1 and 2) who is not dismissed ("not out") when the team innings is closed. The term is mainly used when the innings closes after all 10 wickets have fall ...

in a match against Glamorgan at St Helen's, Swansea; Mendis scored 65* in Lancashire's second innings total of 163. In 1990, Mendis was part of the Lancashire team that won both the Benson & Hedges Cup and the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

. He scored 180 runs in a match against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. The 1990 Natwest Trophy semi-final was played over three days, and Mendis batted throughout, scoring 121 *, eventually receiving the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award. In 1993, Mendis was given a benefit year by Lancashire. Mendis also appeared in a 1989 match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

at Glenpark.

Personal life

Mendis was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and his family emigrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

when he was 12; as a result, he was eligible to play for either Sri Lanka or

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, although he did not make international appearances for either. Mendis was educated at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School and currently works in

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...

, Cheshire as a teacher. His nephew Alex Mendis has played for Sussex Second XI in the Second Eleven Championship between 2005 and 2006.

References

External links

CricketArchive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendis, Gehan 1955 births Living people Cricketers from Colombo English cricketers Lancashire cricketers Sussex cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of the College of the Venerable Bede, Durham Test and County Cricket Board XI cricketers