Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka’s ace match-winner in global tournaments, may be about to bowl his final spells at an ICC event this week. ESPNcricinfo remembers five of his best big-tournament performances
Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jun-2017Four in four in GuyanaWhere Lasith Malinga had been something of a Sri Lankan secret until then,this was the moment his searing yorkers sneaked beneath the bat of worldcricket’s collective consciousness, and bowled it over. For the next sevenyears, a multitude of toes would line up to be crushed, cartloads ofstumps would be splayed, and stadiums would be filled with blonde-tippedwig-wearing acolytes of Malinga’s round-arm heresy.The match was basically already lost. South Africa needed 10 runs off sixovers, with five wickets in the tank. Mahela Jayawardene tossed the ball toMalinga and told him: “We’re buried here unless you do something.” So hedid. He rolled his fingers over the fifth ball of his sixth over of theday, and the slower ball – which in those days, was still 136kph – wangledits way past Shaun Pollock’s bat. Andrew Hall was then tricked into lobbingup a catch next ball, off another slower one.At the start of the following over, Malinga had returned to the fast stuff.Jacques Kallis, perhaps wanting to cover the ball that had been swinging into the right hander, drove too far inside the line, and sent an outsideedge through to the keeper. Makhaya Ntini was almost just a prop in theMalinga show. The ball seemed to phase through him and into the middlestump. South Africa would go on to win the game, thanks to a fortunate edgeto third man, but not before Malinga threatened the wickets a couple moretimes. One ball had whistled by so close to the woodwork, “If only thestumps had hair” an observer had remarked.Hushing the WankhedeIn the early years of the IPL, no foreign player inspired as much devotionfrom a section of Indian fans, as Malinga. His spells at the death hadacquired a legendary status, and in home games, would be delivered tostadium-wide cries of “Ma-li-nga”.But on April 2, 2011, when Sri Lanka had come to town to contest the WorldCup final, there was no adulation for him. The Wankhede was not Malinga’scrowd that day. Trapping Virender Sehwag in front of the stumps secondball, Malinga let out a roar as silence filled the stadium. A few overslater, he took the outside edge of Mumbai’s favourite son – SachinTendulkar – and sprinted full tilt, arms spread, from the bowling crease tosquare leg, wildly, hysterically joyful.Despite the quality of Malinga’s opening spell, Sri Lanka, of course, couldnot capitalise. MS Dhoni would go on to provide that evening’s mostmemorable moment.The Pallekele demolitionEngland may have been reigning World T20 champions, but Sri Lanka werefavourites for this particular tournament, and in the back hills of Kandythat evening, Malinga was king.On display were virtually all of Malinga’s weapons, which at this stage ofhis career, constituted a veritable arsenal. He got Luke Wright with a ballthat pitched on short-of-a-length and left the right hander slightly – oneof his favoured new-ball deliveries at the time. The next victim was JonnyBairstow, who didn’t spot the slower ball, and whacked it almost into thestratosphere, but could get no distance on the shot – the ball eventuallycaught at mid off. Next ball, Alex Hales was duped by another slower one,which struck his pad in front of the stumps.While those three early wickets could be attributed to Malinga’s wit, itwas pure ability that brought the next two. Jos Buttler could not control amenacing bouncer in Malinga’s second spell, and sent a catch to long leg.And seeing Samit Patel back away to make room, Malinga took aim at the offstump and sent it cartwheeling with a fast full toss. That 5 for 31 remainshis best return in T20 internationals.Dipping in CardiffWhen Sri Lanka made only 138 in their innings, it seemed almostinconceivable New Zealand would be put under any sort of strain, but thankslargely to Malinga, the match would turn out to be a thriller. New Zealandhad not, at the time, had a great record against Malinga, and that wouldcontinue, for one more game at least.This time it was his pace that they struggled to parse. In the ninth over,Kane Williamson actually attempted to duck a ball that wound up hitting himon the thigh, in front of the stumps. Eleven overs later, another slowerball had Daniel Vettori lbw. Then the McCullum brothers were removed in thespace of three Malinga deliveries, Brendon playing too early at anotherslower ball, which took out his off stump, before Nathan was nailed in frontof the wickets with a searing, swinging fast one.Had Sri Lanka conserved their review to overturn a not out decision whenMalinga hit Southee in front of the stumps in the 34th over, they mighteven have gone on to win the match. Instead New Zealand survived Malinga’sfinal bursts to limp home with a wicket to spare.Full and wide in MirpurFigures of no wickets for 27 may not sound like much, but make no mistake, the 2014World T20 final was one of Malinga’s finest cricketing moments. Thoughsometimes criticised at home for the eagerness with which he turns up ateach IPL, Malinga’s riposte, on this occasion, was to harness the knowledgehe had gained in five IPL seasons for Sri Lanka’s benefit. Having been madecaptain mid-way through this campaign, Malinga had been instrumental indevising the bowling plan that muzzled India’s batsmen.The thinking was this: few India batsmen played the scoop or lap scoop, andrelied instead on more traditional cricketing strokes for their death-overruns. As a result, Malinga contended, Sri Lanka would be well-served by theyorker landed about half-a-metre outside off stump – too wide for the likesof Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni to whip through leg, but not quite wide enoughto flay through a packed offside. While Malinga himself was virtuallyinch-perfect in the execution of this plan, Nuwan Kulasekara went a littlewider than his partner, but was nevertheless successful.Much was said about Yuvraj Singh’s tortured innings in that game, but evenwhen MS Dhoni joined a well-set Virat Kohli at the crease, the two mencould muster no more than 11 runs off the final 11 balls of the innings.And perhaps the most incredible thing about that plan of attack was that itwas so unlike Malinga. He was a bowler seemingly defined by his uniquenessand his blockbuster spells. But it was this humdrum, low-octane strategythat delivered him the greatest prize of his career. Malinga didn’t blastIndia out; he outwitted them.
