Lasith Malinga

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Lasith Malinga
Personal information
Full name	Separamadu Lasith Malinga
Born	28 August 1983 (1983-08-28) (age 25)
	Galle, Sri Lanka
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	18 December 2007: v England
ODI debut (cap 123)	17 July 2004: v United Arab Emirates
Last ODI	29 February 2008:v Australia
ODI shirt no.	99
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2007	Kent
2004/05-present	Nondescripts
2001/02-2003/04	Galle
Career statistics
	Tests	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	28	53	80	81
Runs scored	192	92	501	177
Batting average	9.14	6.57	8.94	6.80
100s/50s	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/0
Top score	42*	15	42*	23*
Balls bowled	4,777	2,525	11,345	3,761
Wickets	91	79	242	121
Bowling average	33.80	25.58	30.66	25.11
5 wickets in innings	2	0	6	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	5/68	4/44	6/17	4/16
Catches/stumpings	7/–	11/–	22/–	15/–
Source: CricketArchive, 11 October 2008

Separamadu Lasith Malinga (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, "Slinger Malinga". 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.

Contents 1 Early days 2 Bowling Style 3 International career 3.1 Test Cricket 3.2 One Day Internationals (ODI) 4 External links 5 References

Early days

Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, and always enjoyed cricket. He often played out with friends on the streets and in the coconut groves of his cricket-obsessed village. He attended Devapathiraja College and then Mahinda College in 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. ^[1]

Bowling Style

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.^[1] His unorthodox technique is perhaps most closely related to that of the renowned Australian Test fast bowler Jeff Thomson^{[citation needed]}, who was regarded as the fastest and most dangerous bowler of the 1970s , except for the West Indians of the era. 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 it is important to note that it has never been questioned, and that he has not been cited or called for throwing or otherwise using an illegal action.

His curly blonde-streaked mop of hair, eyebrow piercing, tattoos and unusual bowling action makes him one of the more recognisable figures in cricket.

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)^[2] 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. ^[1]

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. He burst onto the test scene after ripping through the New Zealand top order, helping Sri Lanka win the test series on their 2006/07 tour of New Zealand.

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. ^[3]. 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.^[4] Malinga's victims included 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 over, however, South Africa proceeded to win the match by 1 wicket with 10 balls still left.