Malinga, bowling hero of World Cup!

It may be Matthew Hayden and Glen McGrath who stole the limelight as the leading batsman and wicket taker of this World Cup, but Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga who just missed his first game against New Zealand through injury is unquestionably the bowling hero.

After the heroics in the South Africa match, picking up four wickets in four balls for the first time in the history of cricket, Malinga has certainly become the most fearsome bowler of this edition of the showpiece event.

“He is special and awkward to face and there is no doubt about that,” admitted West Indies captain Brian Lara, a sentiment echoed by Proteas skipper Greame Smith.

The 23-year-old Malinga was the surprise selection for Sri Lanka`s tour to Australia in 2004, though he had a fearsome reputation in the domestic circuit. Malinga bowls with an explosive round-arm action, which generates genuine pace and can unsettle batsmen who struggle to pick up the ball`s trajectory.

Already, he is rated the fastest bowler in Sri Lanka. In a warm-up match of that 2004 Australia tour, he took six for 90 against a Northern Territory Chief Minister`s XI. That paved the way for his inclusion in the Test team and dismissed Darren Lehmann and Adam Gilchrist in the same over.

During an impressive tour of New Zealand in April 2005 his low-slung action led the Kiwis to ask the umpire to change the colour of their trousers as the ball was getting lost.

Malinga is developing into Sri Lanka`s key pace-bowling wicket-taker, especially as Chaminda Vaas continues to lose pace.
Although he remains quite erratic and has a propensity to bowl no-balls, he is a genuine strike bowler with both new and old balls.

He also possesses the out-and-out pace to trouble the best batsmen on his day. His development as an all-round bowler was confirmed when he was the leading wicket-taker in the one-day series against England.

He continued to impress in the Champions Trophy and on tour in New Zealand -- where his yorkers made many batsmen grope around -- and the World Cup is the type of stage where his confident character could thrive.

Nobody would ever forget that miracle spell. One moment the South Africans were warming to the idea of their first points of the Super Eights, the next moment Malinga was rolling them over as suddenly as his bowling arm appears in delivery stride. Five runs were needed from five overs with five wickets in hand when it all began happening.

Shaun Pollock was beaten by a superb slower delivery -- by Malinga`s standards -- for it still registered 135 kph. A yet another slower delivery duped Andrew Hall into popping one up.

Thereafter, it was back to extremely fast stuff. An over was finished and a new one begun. The rock-steady Jacques Kallis was tickled a swinging yorker to the keeper: that was the hat-trick.

Makhaya Ntini might as have well not bothered to appear before the missile that zoomed into the bottom of his middle stump: four in four.

With nine wickets down, and three runs to get, Robin Peterson received a full one at 144 kph which eluded the edge and the stumps.

“It was pretty stressful out there in the last five overs,” said Graeme Smith.

“Quite a few of the boys were having a cigarette or two.” “He complements our attack and gives it a different dimension,” Lankan coach Tom Moody told journalists today but he admitted that Malinga is still erratic.

``We are trying to keep him as natural as possible to derive the maximum result. Up front, he has the ability to take wickets with the new ball. With the old ball, he is very good at executing it right up in the block-hole. He`s an important part of our unit`` When they first encountered him, batsmen found Malinga`s side-arm action very tough to pick, as the ball would appear from right in front of the umpire.

Malinga is part of Sri Lanka`s three-pronged pace attack, which includes opening bowler Vaas and the right-arm fast medium bowler Farveez Maharoof.

``The quality of Vaas with the new ball is invaluable,`` Moody said. ``The variations of Malinga are a great asset and Maharoof is well-suited to these conditions when the ball seams around a bit. Malinga`s hairstyle, currently bleached blond, and pierced eyebrow add colour to his unpredictable bowling.

``He has had many hairstyles over the past 12 months and you never know what it will be tomorrow,`` Moody added. - Zeecric.com