Lasith Malinga

Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, he always enjoyed cricket, and often played out with friends on the streets and in the coconut groves of his cricket-obsessed village. He attended Vidyaloka 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 accuracy. Malinga promptly returned to his natural action with success and great encouragement from Champaka Ramanayake. ^[1]

The cricket reference text Wisden have noted that Malinga's delivery action is similar to an act of "slinging". Malinga has said that his unique action was a result of learning to playing cricket exclusively with a tennis ball.^[2] This unorthodox technique was perhaps most famously associated by renowned Australian Test fast bowler Jeff Thomson, who was regarded as the fastest and most dangerous bowler in the 1970s. Typically younger bowlers are encouraged to deliver the ball with their arm near vertical, removing some of the variables relating to direction.

Malinga's delivery action has attracted great comment, but it is important to note that it has never been questioned as being "throwing" or otherwise illegal.

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

He made his Test debut on the July 1-3 2004, at Darwin's Marrara Oval. He was immediately successful with 6 wickets for the match (Darren Lehmann twice, Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz)^[3] 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. ^[4]

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 batsman 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 higher.

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. ^[5]. 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.^[6] 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. Lasith Malinga's unique high, round-arm action makes him an incredibly difficult bowler to pick.

1. TVNZ website
2. Cricinfo Player Profile: Lasith Malinga
3. about four wickets with successive deliveries
4. youtube clip: 4 in 4