Five-star Malinga too hot for Scots
Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga ensured the islanders tour of
Britain ended on a winning note as he took five wickets in a 183-run
one-day international rout of Scotland here on Wednesday.
Beaten in both Test and one-day series by England, the World Cup
finalists proved too strong for a Scotland side who’d only the day
before piled up 323 in a shock win over fellow non-Test team Ireland.
Sri Lanka made 284 for seven, featuring fifties from openers Mahela
Jayawardene (64) and Dimuth Karunaratne (60).
They then saw Malinga, one of the most difficult bowlers in world
cricket to face on account of his round-arm, ‘slingshot’, style take
five for 30 as Scotland were shot out for 101 with Majid Haq’s 34 double
the next best score of any other home batsman.
Malinga, 27, who has retired from Test cricket, earlier made a rapid
unbeaten 32 off 15 balls with two sixes but it was his bowling that did
the damage.
“He is world class and unfortunately we came up against him at his
best and didn’t have an answer,” said Scotland captain Gordon Drummond.
“I think it’s the uniqueness of how he delivers the ball. We knew he
was going to be difficult to face but knowing it and actually doing
something about it is different things.
“In particular, his slower ball is awkward to see, and it is about
30mph slower, so it’s a good delivery to have in your repertoire.
“And if you hit yorkers bang on they’re difficult to play, and that
showed today. I think he bowled four guys.
“We were trying to keep him out and see if we could get up to four an
over from him.
“But when you can bowl yorkers like that consistently at 90mph, it’s
very difficult to plan against unless you have people brave enough to
ramp him or flick him over fine-leg.
“I think guys were just trying to get used to him and score off the
other end but his yorkers were too good.
“His arm is hidden when he pulls back and it just comes through, and
it comes through quickly too.
“But it’s unbelievable control he has got. He is not just swinging it
down there willy-nilly, he actually has control, and that’s why he is so
good.” LONDON, Thursday, AFP
SRI LANKA
M. Jayawardene c Coetzer b Haq 64
D. Karunaratne c MacLeod b Haq 60
T. Dilshan c Maiden b Davey 6
T. Kandamby c Sharif b Mommsen 20
D. Chandimal c and b Mommsen 24
A. Mathews c MacLeod b Drummond 23
J. Mendis not out 34
T. Perera c MacLeod b Goudie 9
L. Malinga not out 32
EXTRAS (lb8, w4) 12
TOTAL (7 wkts, 50 overs) 284
Fall of wickets: 1-101, 2-126, 3-140, 4-171, 5-189, 6-218, 7-238
Bowling: Drummond 10-0-53-1 (2w); Sharif 5-0-48-0; Goudie 8-1-35-1; Davey 9-1-45-1 (1w);
Berrington 4-0-23-0; Haq 10-0-53-2; Mommsen 4-0-19-2 (1w)
SCOTLAND
F. Watts c Jayawardene b Malinga 3
K. Coetzer b Malinga 10
C. MacLeod b Malinga 0
J. Davey lbw b Prasad 17
P. Mommsen lbw b A Mendis 8
R. Berrington c Chandimal b Prasad 0
G. Maiden lbw b Perera 0
M. Haq c Chandimal b Prasad 34
G. Drummond b Malinga 5
S. Sharif not out 9
G. Goudie c J Mendis b Malinga 0
EXTRAS (lb4, w9, nb2) 15
Total (all out, 32.4 overs) 101
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-12, 3-21 , 4-36, 5-36, 6-44, 7-48, 8-76, 9-99,10-101
Bowling: Malinga 9.4-2-30-5 (5w); Prasad 7-1-17-3 (2w); Perera 6-0-20-1 (1w);
A Mendis 8-2-24-1 (2nb, 1w); J Mendis 2-0-6-0 |