Takes his second hat-trick in World Cup :

Malinga sends Kenya crashing to defeat

Chris Dhambarage

Speed star Lasith Malinga made a spectacular comeback into the Sri Lanka team with a six wicket haul including a hat-trick as Sri Lanka defeated Kenya by nine wickets in their ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup Group ‘A’ fixture worked off under lights at the R Premadasa International Stadium yesterday.

The 27-year-old right arm fast bowler playing in his 78th One Day International returned career best figures of six wickets for 38 runs from just 7.4 overs as Kenya collapsed sensationally after they had elected to bat first.

Sri Lanka then raced to their target from just 18.4 overs scoring 146 for one wicket as they went on to register their second victory from three outings in the 14 nation competition.

Dashing opener Tillekeratne Dilshan led the way with an explosive 40 from 30 deliveries inclusive of eight boundaries. After an opening stand of 72 runs from 8.2 overs Upul Tharanga continued with the good work and went on to hit an unbeaten 67 from 59 deliveries inclusive of 12 boundaries. His unfinished second wicket stand with skipper Kumar Sangakkara was worth 74 runs. Earlier Lasith Malinga who was rested for the opening two games against Canada and Pakistan respectively produced a devastating spell of bowling to skittle out the opposition in just 43.4 overs.

Malinga came into the attack for his second spell with Kenya on 128 for 5 in the 41st over and looking towards building their innings during the latter stages of the innings.

However they were in for a nasty surprise as Malinga produced one of the finest spells in World Cup cricket in the 2011 edition. He also came closer of producing a repeat performance of the 2007 effort where he captured four wickets in four deliveries against South Africa.

This time he was not far away but still he was equally brilliant while claiming four wickets from ten deliveries for 13 runs that put the Kenyan innings in complete disarray.

Malinga struck in the last delivery of the 41st over and came back again to pick up two more wickets in the first two deliveries of the 43rd over. Two deliveries later he clean bowled Elija Otieno to bring an end to the Kenyan innings.

Malinga playing in his ninth World Cup match earlier gave his team the initiative by striking in his second over of the innings.

He also captured the wicket of the top scorer Collins Obuya who struck four boundaries during his knock of 52.

Collins Obuya along with his brother David Obuya resurrected the Kenyan innings to a certain extent with a second wicket stand of 94 runs from 29 overs. David Obuya played a good supporting role for his solid 51 from 106 deliveries inclusive of three boundaries.

But after their departure Kenya completely lost their way and collapsed to 142 runs after they had reached a healthy 102 for 2 at one stage.

Apart from Malinga’s heroics with the ball there was a brilliant piece of fielding from Chamara Silva who dived and crashed into the stumps with the ball in his hand to run out Kenya captain Jimmy Kamande.

		SCORECARD
	KENYA
M. Ouma lbw b Kulasekara		 1
S. Waters lbw b Malinga			 3
C. Obuya b Malinga			52
D. Obuya c Samaraweera b Muralitharan	51
S. Tikolo c Dilshan b Mathews		 7
T. Mishra lbw b Malinga			 0
J. Kamande run out			 1
N. Odhiambo not out			 8
P. Ongondo b Malinga			 0
S. Ngoche b Malinga			 0
E. Otieno b Malinga			 0
Extras: (b1, lb6, nb3, w9)		19
TOTAL: (all out; 43.4 overs)	       142

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Ouma), 2-8 (Waters) 
		 3-102 (C. Obuya), 4-120 (Tikolo)
		 5-127 (D. Obuya), 6-128 (Kamande) 
		 7-137 (Mishra), 8-137 (Ongondo)
		 9-137 (Ngoche), 10-142 (Otieno)
Bowling: Malinga 7.4-0-38-6 (nb3, w7)
	 Kulasekara 9-1-18-1
	 Mathews 7-0-20-1 (w1)
	 Mendis 9-2-23-0
	 Muralitharan 8-0-24-1
	 Silva 3-0-12-0 (w1)

	SRI LANKA
U. Tharanga not out			67
T. Dilshan c Ouma b Otieno		44
K. Sangakkara not out			27
Extras: (nb1, w7)			 8
TOTAL: (for one wkt; 18.4 overs)       146

Fall of wickets: 1-72 (Dilshan).
Bowling: Ongondo 3-0-28-0 (w2)
	 Odhiambo 5-0-26-0
	 Ngoche 4-0-39-0
	 Kamande 1-0-14-0 (w2)
	 Otieno 4-0-26-1 (nb1 w2)
	 C. Obuya 1.4-0-13-0 (w1)