This is the story of an arm that functioned almost independent of a body long out of shape and wrecked with chronic injuries. Public opinion turned for the worse a few years later when the media painted him as a thankless opportunist ready to give up country for club when the Mumbai Indians were ready to splurge on him in the Indian Premier League. By then, Malinga had found his calling more by default than design. Bowling in Tests was not his cup of tea, not while his knees and ankles kept buckling under the pressure of a unique but exacting action.
So he got down to perfecting himself as a white-ball operator, relying on the trifecta of bouncer, the slower ball and the yorker. He ended being a legend of the game, extending his white-ball career by 10 years after playing his last Test in But what really propelled him to fame was the amount of swing he could manufacture with the older ball.
His reverse swing too was radical for its times, with the seam releasing almost horizontal to the pitch while others normally had the seam pointed towards slips. And then, there was his pace. Once upon a time Malinga meant rip roaring yorkers in the slog overs with batsmen keeling over to keep their balance. Along with bringing yorkers back in vogue, it was Malinga who made death-overs bowling a skill many have longed to perfect. This is where he started working on variations of yorker. There are broadly two.
First is the excruciatingly slower version, one that inevitably triggers the batsman to come down on the ball quicker than anticipated. Shuffle too much across the stumps and you are plumb leg-before, make too much space to free the arms and risk losing your stumps. What makes the variation more confounding is when it lands on the full. These are sneaky deliveries, leaving the hand with a high trajectory but dipping too suddenly on the batsman for him to bring his bat down.
It took Malinga hundreds of hours practising bowling at a pair of shoes glued in front of the popping crease.
To hit the blockhole several stumps away from the shoes needs that much extra discipline. Lillee described him as "a once in a generation bowler.
Lasith Malinga was born in Galle in He was a surprise selection on a tour to Australia in after building a formidable reputation in domestic competition. He established himself as a regular in the playing XI after an impressive World Cup in , with 18 wickets at One of the moments of the tournament was Malinga's four in four against South Africa—the first time a bowler had taken four wickets off successive deliveries in international cricket. The two Australians have had extensive injury lay-offs and problems with their backs, legs and arms.
Malinga fell out of favour after poor performances against England and Australia in the latter part of his career. Just to spark some more conversation here are some more questions for you to comment on:. Enjoy our content? Join our newsletter to get the latest in sports news delivered straight to your inbox!
Your sports. It was the same with Malinga. You're startled, but then when you calm down and look at the technical points of his action, like the position of his feet, it is quite sound. Foster and Elliott believe that Malinga's loose joints and tendons, not an over-extending elbow, are the contributing factors to his action, one in which his right arm follows through in an almost horizontal position.
It works, too, and Malinga is the top wicket-taker at the World Cup 13 from five matches going in to today's Super Eight clash with England. It's more side arm. It looks fine and I wouldn't have thought that it extended anywhere near [the legal limit of] 15 degrees. It's just very different.
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