London: Lasith Malinga almost beat the odds to win the match for Sri Lanka against New Zealand at Cardiff on Sunday and the talk among all the teams here is about how to play out his ten overs without losing a wicket.
From his spell in Cardiff on Sunday, Malinga took four for 34, including two maidens, as the Kiwis stumbled to a one-wicket victory while chasing a small target of 139. Afterwards, the slingy-actioned pacer was praised not only by his captain, Angelo Mathews, but also by New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum.
New Zealand had trained hard before the match in a bid to keep out Malinga’s yorkers, but still failed as he produced not only quick yorkers, but also slower balls and bouncers to upset the batsmen’s concentration.
“We had prepared for his yorkers, slow deliveries and bouncers. Lasith is a completely different proposition all together. I think he bowled brilliantly and was probably unlucky not to come out on the right side of the result,” McCullum said.
“It’s hard to prepare for that sort of bowling because he’s probably the best in the world at it. So we’re just thankful that, even as good as he was, we still managed to get the win.”
Though Mathews was disappointed with the defeat, he showered praise on Malinga’s heroics. When asked about his star bowler, Mathews said: “Malinga is such a tough guy mentally and physically and he knows exactly what to do in these situations. His spell shows what character he has.
“He’s so professional, he really knows his stuff. He’s a premium bowler and you’ve got to accept it. Whatever has been done, he’s our main bowler and hats off to him.”
Mathews also praised the rest of his bowlers, who came close to successfully defending such a small total.
“We didn’t have many runs to play with, so we just had to go for the kill. My bowlers responded well.
“Malinga once again did a fantastic job, Shaminda Eranga bowled brilliantly too and all the spinners — whoever bowled was absolutely brilliant, backed up by the fielding. So it was an encouraging performance.”
But Mathews expressed disappointment at some of the umpiring decisions that didn’t go his team’s way.
“The luck streams both ways and it’s just one of those days that we didn’t have the decisions come our way,” he said.
