To those to whom the sound of bat hitting ball and then the sight of the ball racing to the boundary or taking off and landing beyond it and into the stands are the attractions of cricket, the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, now playing in England, must be, so far, a special treat.

After 16 matches, there have been 388 fours and 122 sixes. Some of them have been the results of authentic and glorious strokes; some of them the results of creative and improvised shots. After Friday's action, with 11 more matches to come, with the batsmen warming to the action, the expectation is for many, many more exhilarating and astonishing strokes.

the most audacious strokes

No one who saw it will ever forget, for example, the massive and thunderous hit by West Indian Christopher Gayle off Australian fast bowler Brett Lee - the mighty blow that saw the ball dropping some 105 metres away from the crease.

For me, however, the most audacious strokes of the tournament, up to Friday, came from the bats of Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka and Dwayne Bravo of the West Indies.

Neither of them went for sixes, they only went away for fours, but one was so creative that it bordered on genius; one so impulsive that it was hilarious; and one so brazen, that it had a touch of arrogance.

Batting against Australia's medium-pacer Shane Watson, the right-handed Dilshan stretched his left leg down the pitch and instead of sweeping towards square-leg or backward square-leg, the opening batsman delicately lifted the ball over his head, over the wicketkeeper's head, and down to the boundary.

He played the "Dilshan" a few times after that - including once against Lendl Simmons of the West Indies.

Batting against Sri Lanka, Bravo, on the hunt for runs in a fruitless bid for victory, backed away from the wicket and with the bowler pitching the ball away from him on the off-side, the batsman, probably loosing his footing, started to fall. In falling, he swung, with only one hand on the bat, at the ball, and as he landed flat on to his stomach, the ball sailed over point and to the boundary.

It was a shot that reminded me of Rohan Kanhai's famous falling sweep when, in days long gone, the great West Indian landed on his back while hitting the ball behind square-leg - to the boundary or over it.

On Friday, in the West Indies' magnificent victory over defending champions India, the right-handed Bravo - in an innings during which he scored 66 not out off 36 deliveries, in one of the finest innings of the tournament - pushed his left foot forward, and with only one hand, his right hand, on the bat, he drove off-spinner Harbhajan Singh sweetly to the cover boundary.

spinners steal the show

To me, however, apart from the fielders diving and sliding along the green grass of Lord's, The Oval, and Trent Bridge, the attraction of the Twenty20 tournament to date was the sight of the spin bowlers doing their thing, and their impact on many of the contests.

Muttiah Muralitheran, the controversial off-spinner from Sri Lanka, has been good, very good. So, too, have been Pakistan's right-arm leg-spinner Shahid Afridi and off-spinner Saed Ajmal, South Africa's off-spinner, Johan Botha, left-arm leg-spinner, Roelef van der Merwe, as well as India's off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

The spin bowlers have been so good, so far, this time around that - apart from Sri Lanka's part-time left-hander, Sanath Jayasuriya, bowling the second over against Australia and bowling the first over against the West Indies, apart from so many of them coming on as early as after three, four, or five overs and stifling the batting side or getting some wickets, apart from the fact that four of them are behind only Sri Lanka's fast bowler Lasith Malinga in the most wickets column that Afridi's four wickets for 11 runs stands as the best performance in a match, that four of the top eight in the bowling averages are spin bowlers, and that spin bowlers occupy the top five positions as far as the economy rate is concerned - they have been the difference between victory and defeat for many teams.

For me, however, the spin bowler of the tournament to date has been Sri Lanka's Ajantha Mendis, and especially so against Australia.

Against the West Indies, who were chasing 193 for victory and who were going great guns at 70 for one in the seventh over, Mendis changed the game when, after Muralitheran had removed Lendl Simmons, he left them tottering at 73 for four in the eighth over after taking care of Xavier Marshall and Shivnarine Chanderpaul - one looping a catch into the outfield, one beaten and bowled.

brilliant and deadly

Against Australia, however, Mendis, the mystery man, was brilliant and deadly.

The spin bowler - who spins the ball both ways and sometimes not at all, who disguises the direction of the spin and the amount of spin so well, and who varies his pace so skilfully - confused and bemused the batsmen so much that one could see the embarrassment on their faces, and none more so than on those of his victims - Ricky Ponting, Watson, and Mike Hussey.

Australia were hopping along at 48 for one off 5.5 overs when, in his first over, after beating the batsmen with a few deliveries, Mendis bowled Ponting, who, as he walked away, looked like a man who had just seen a ghost.

Next over, Watson was leg before wicket at 59 for three, and when Hussey also fell leg before wicket in the 13th over, Australia were 94 for six, and one of the pre-tournament favourites were on their way out of the tournament.

One reason for their exit was the power of the big left-hander, Chris Gayle; another was the magical spin of the wily Ajantha Mendis.