Claim: Gehan Mendis was part of the 1977 Sussex team which lost to Ireland and later on scored two double centuries in the 1980 season.
Evidence: In 1977, Mendis was part of a Sussex team that lost to Ireland at Pagham; 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.