Lasith Malinga

Lasith Malinga

Personal information
Full name	Separamadu Lasith Malinga
Born	28 August 1983 (age 28) Galle, Sri Lanka
Nickname	Malinga the Slinga,Slinga Malinga
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	Sri Lanka
Test debut (cap 99)	1 July 2004 v Australia
Last Test	3 August 2010 v India
ODI debut (cap 123)	17 July 2004 v United Arab Emirates
Last ODI	16 August 2011 v Australia
ODI shirt no.	99
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2009/2010-present	Tasmania
2007	Kent
2004/05-present	Nondescripts
2001/02-2003/04	Galle
2008–present	Mumbai Indians
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	T20	FC
Matches	30	92	30	83
Runs scored	275	281	63	584
Batting average	11.45	9.68	12.60	9.89
100s/50s	0/1	0/1	0/0	0/1
Top score	64	56	27	64
Balls bowled	5,209	4444	612	11,867
Wickets	101	144	37	255
Bowling average	33.15	25.53	20.08	30.39
5 wickets in innings	3	4	0	7
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	n/a	0
Best bowling	5/50	6/38	3/12	6/17
Catches/stumpings	7/–	13/–	13/–	23/–
Source: CricketArchive, 1 March 2011

Separamadu Lasith Malinga (Sinhala:සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලින්ග) (born August 28, 1983 in Galle, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. He is a specialist fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga".^[1] He is known for his very sharp bouncers which are often hard to recognise because of his round-arm action, and he has a very dangerous in-swinging yorker which has been known to smash batsmen's feet if they do not see it come out of his hand. Malinga can also swing the ball early on in a match and this is an advantage to him. He is well known for his ability to take consecutive wickets: he is the first and only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first and only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODIs and he is also the first, and currently the only, player to have taken four wickets in four consecutive balls in any form of international cricket.^[2] On 22 April 2011, he announced his retirement from test cricket.

Contents [hide] 1 Early days 2 Style 3 International career 3.1 Test Cricket 3.2 One Day Internationals (ODI) 3.3 T20 International (T20) 4 Records 5 References 6 External links

Early days

Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, and always enjoyed cricket. He often played out with friends on the sand banks and coconut groves by a river in his cricket-obsessed village. He first had his education at Devapathiraja College, Rathgama and then at Vidyaloka College, Galle. Later he moved to Mahinda College, Galle. Here he was discovered by former Sri Lankan paceman Champaka Ramanayake,who was so impressed by Malinga's raw ability that he invited him to join the Cricket Foundation of Sri Lanka. A short-lived attempt to make Malinga's action more upright led to much reduced pace and failing accuracy. Malinga promptly returned to his natural action with success, and with great encouragement from Champaka Ramanayake.^[3]

Style

Malinga bowling against Pakistan in the final of the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 at Lord's.

The cricket reference text Wisden has noted that Malinga's delivery action is similar to "slinging". Malinga has said that his unique action was a result of learning to play cricket exclusively with a tennis ball.^[3] Typically, younger bowlers are encouraged to deliver the ball with their arm near vertical to remove or reduce direction variables.
Malinga's action has attracted great comment, but has never been formally questioned; he has not been reported or called for throwing.

International career

Test Cricket

A graph showing Malinga's test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time

He made his Test debut on the July 1–3, 2004, at Darwin's Marrara Oval. He was immediately successful, taking 6 wickets in the match (Darren Lehmann twice, Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz)^[4] He was impressed by the friendliness of the Australian team in general, and in particular Adam Gilchrist who sought him out after the game to present him with one of the match stumps in the Sri Lankan dressing room.^[3]
He has developed into Sri Lanka's fastest Test bowler and a regular member of both their Test and One Day International sides. He has earned a reputation for troubling batsmen with his lively pace and well-directed bouncer. He regularly bowls at speeds between 140 and 150 km/h (87 to 93 mph) and sometimes slightly faster. As time went by he started to lose pace clocking around 130 to 140 km/h. His slower off cutter was also menacing. He burst onto the test scene after ripping through the New Zealand top order, helping Sri Lanka draw the test series on their 2006/07 tour of New Zealand. He announced his retirement from Test cricket on 22 April 2011 in order to prolong his career in One-Day and T20 cricket.^[5]

One Day Internationals (ODI)

Malinga debuted on July 17, 2004 when Sri Lanka played the United Arab Emirates at Dambulla. Since then he has become a regular member on the ODI squad.
During the Sri Lankan team's tour of New Zealand in 2004–2005, the New Zealand team found his action hard to play and the NZ captain, Stephen Fleming asked the umpire to change his belt and tie to a lighter colour so that they would be better able to see the ball being released from Malinga's hand. The umpire did not do so.
Malinga became a highlight during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, when on March 28, 2007, against South Africa he became the first ever player to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in international cricket.^[6] This was also only the fifth hat-trick in World Cup history, the third ODI hat-trick for Sri Lanka and the 24th in all ODI history.^[7] Malinga's victims were Shaun Pollock (bowled at 13), Andrew Hall (caught by Upul Tharanga at 0), Jacques Kallis (caught by Kumar Sangakkara at 86), and Makhaya Ntini (bowled at 0). Despite Malinga's lethal spell, however, South Africa proceeded to win the match by 1 wicket with 10 balls still left.
During the 2011 Cricket World Cup, Malinga took his second career hat-trick in Sri Lanka's group stage match against Kenya. This made him the first bowler to take two World Cup hat-tricks, and the fourth to take two hat-tricks in all One Day International cricket (alongside Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq and Chaminda Vaas). In August 2011, he scored yet an other hat-trick against Australia.

T20 International (T20)

Malinga plays for Indian Premier League (IPL) team Mumbai Indians. He is their strike bowler in this format and is leading bowler for the season 2011 along with team mate world renowned spinner Muralitharan who plays for Kochi Tuskers. World record holder Sachin Tendulkar the Mumbai Indian's captain described Malinga as an important cog in Mumbai Indians game plan after the retirement of strike bowler in former South African Captain Shaun Pollock who represented the team in the first season. In the first match for the Mumbai Indians in the fourth season, he got 5 wickets against Delhi Daredevils restricting them to a mere 95. He had his best score of 5/13 in the game.
He won the Purple Cap award (most wickets) in the fourth season of Indian Premier League with 28 scalps in 16 matches.^[8] Throughout the tournament, he led the Mumbai Indians attack from the front and was instrumental in many victories.

Records

• Only bowler in cricketing history to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in international cricket (vs. South Africa March 2007)^[9]
• Only bowler in cricketing history to take three hat-tricks in international cricket.^[2][10]
• Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews hold the highest run partnership for the 9th wicket in an ODI: 132 runs, against Australia in Melbourne in 2010. Malinga scored 56 Runs from 48 balls including six fours and two sixes; Mathews scored 77 runs off 84 deliveries including eight fours and one six.^[11]
• He is the only bowler with two World Cup hat tricks, against South Africa in the 2007 Cricket World Cup and the other against Kenya in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.^[12]
• Malinga also holds the record for most wickets taken in a single IPL season, 28 in the 2011 Indian Premier League 4^[13]