Lasith Malinga

[Athlai]

He is a good young player who will really hold Sri Lanka's bowling attack when Vaas and Muralitharan retire. I wouldn't call him a great in the making though, not consistent enough. I can see him struggling big time against a decent batting line up.

Personally, I think he will develop, right now he has an ideal setting of players like Murali and Vaas to fall back on, but soon enough he will be the player holding the attack together, seeing that hes just 23 (almost 24) and given such a great setting for the next couple years, by the time hes asked to do it by himself (probably), hes going to be an even greater bowler than he is right now.

I think he proved his ability to change when he upped his pace and his accuracy while adding a bit more to his arsenal. Much more could be to come. While its not a sure bet, I think its reasonable to believe he is going to become a much better player than he already is.

 

[Swervy]

Thommo even weakened his left leg a fair bit even after his career finished. With such an action, you cannot avoid having an impact, even immediate on your body. The point was that Thommo was fairly successful despite his action to take 200 wickets. For some one with a normal action, that might be considered less but for a slinging action, that is a pretty good achievement.

I thought it was a shoulder injury after colliding witha fellow fielder that did the damage with Thommo.

More telling really with Thommo was that he was still playing tests in 1985 (as opposed to the 200 wickets), and bowling at a fair clip as well

I would say an action like Akrams would put more stresses on the body than a Thommo / Malinga type action

 

[Athlai]

I thought it was a shoulder injury after colliding witha fellow fielder that did the damage with Thommo.

More telling really with Thommo was that he was still playing tests in 1985 (as opposed to the 200 wickets), and bowling at a fair clip as well

I would say an action like Akrams would put more stresses on the body than a Thommo / Malinga type action

I think I actually heard the commentators saying something along the lines of that during the recent test series. That his action doesn't put on as much stress as people think that it might actually put less stress on the body. I believe they said something about the action working more on the lower back than a more orthodox action.

 

[Perm]

Personally, I think he will develop, right now he has an ideal setting of players like Murali and Vaas to fall back on, but soon enough he will be the player holding the attack together, seeing that hes just 23 (almost 24) and given such a great setting for the next couple years, by the time hes asked to do it by himself (probably), hes going to be an even greater bowler than he is right now.

I think he proved his ability to change when he upped his pace and his accuracy while adding a bit more to his arsenal. Much more could be to come. While its not a sure bet, I think its reasonable to believe he is going to become a much better player than he already is.

I have no doubt that Malinga will become a good player, I just don't think he has the consistency to be a "great" at Test level. ODI's are a little different, he will always be lethal with that yorker and he doesn't have to rely on bowling a good line and length so much.

 

[Athlai]

I have no doubt that Malinga will become a good player, I just don't think he has the consistency to be a "great" at Test level. ODI's are a little different, he will always be lethal with that yorker and he doesn't have to rely on bowling a good line and length so much.

I just keep getting mental images of his bowl to Vettori.
One minute in, sorry about the music and all that jazz.
"Thats unplayable! Thats just unplayable!

 

[Pratters]

I thought it was a shoulder injury after colliding witha fellow fielder that did the damage with Thommo.

More telling really with Thommo was that he was still playing tests in 1985 (as opposed to the 200 wickets), and bowling at a fair clip as well

I would say an action like Akrams would put more stresses on the body than a Thommo / Malinga type action

The sling action Malinga uses, his whole body spins around his left leg. The rotation of the body is more pronounced than Tait and I think it is much more than Thommo as well. The pressure is huge on the left leg because of this. This has an impact on the shoulders as well. On the whole body, particular actions of various bowlers can give more stress but in particular areas, the stress is much larger because of an action like that of Malinga. As a result of the stress levels, there are big concerns regarding injury.

 

[Swervy]

The sling action Malinga uses, his whole body spins around his left leg. The rotation of the body is more pronounced than Tait and I think it is much more than Thommo as well. The pressure is huge on the left leg because of this. This has an impact on the shoulders as well. On the whole body, particular actions of various bowlers can give more stress but in particular areas, the stress is much larger because of an action like that of Malinga.

I am not sure I agree, if you break down Malingas action at all the key stages his action is actually quite nice. There isnt anything really different that he does on his left leg than most other pace bowlers. The differences are that he brings his bowling arm so far back, which I would think would put stress on his back more than most, and then the non-vertical release, which I would say puts less stress on his shoulder.

 

[Pratters]

I will explain this in another way.. A slinger does not just put his arm back and then bowl with extra force. When his arm goes from back to the front, there is a rotation which occurs like in a cartwheel. Imagine a wheel rotating with a fixed centre. The left leg is the centre for the slinger and his whole body rotates around the hip on the foundation of his leg. That is very different from a normal fast bowler.. try to imagine it for a moment.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I rate hi very highly, pretty amazed at how straight he bowls given his action.

It staggers me too. When I tried bowling like he did in the nets I could barely land it on the cut strip. Well, the matting really, but you know what I mean.

Most lethal yorker in the game ATM IMO.

Here's how I rank the current nasty fasties.

Bond and Malinga

Akhtar, Asif, Lee, Ntini. Jones(he's a quickee I think)

Tait, Steyn, etc etc

I think Asif's potentially the best bowler of the lot, but it's a fair stretch to call him a "quick" IMHO; he's more of a fast/medium seamer in the McGrath mode. Guys like Flintoff & Harmison are appreciably quicker.

 

[chaminda_00]

Very good ODI bowler, but his getting in the Brett Lee mould in Test Cricket, needs to develop his a lot in that form before you can really rate him that high IMO.

 

[andmark]

A true great in the making.

 

[Swervy]

I will explain this in another way.. A slinger does not just put his arm back and then bowl with extra force. When his arm goes from back to the front, there is a rotation which occurs like in a cartwheel. Imagine a wheel rotating with a fixed centre. The left leg is the centre for the slinger and his whole body rotates around the hip on the foundation of his leg. That is very different from a normal fast bowler.. try to imagine it for a moment.

are you sure you mean the leg leg, ie the leading leg?

 

[Richard]

Haha, 3 hours and almost a page of posts already...

Don't think CW doesn't rate Laaaasith Maaaalinga at all, he's undoubtedly got the ability to do things that most people can only dream of. I'm certainly in the "that he can bowl as accurately as he does with that action is staggering" camp. When I first saw him (in Australia on Test debut), naturally, I presumed he'd not get too far with it. However, there are exceptions to most rules and here's one to this.

As to the comparisons to Thomson... aside from the slingy nature (which plenty of bowlers share) there's not really too much there, and I don't know of any injuries Thomson sustained that had to do with his action. Played - stupidly - with a broken foot on Test debut; collided with Turner in early 1977\78 and was injured for ages; and had some other sort of injury in 1979\80 sort of time that I've never had a clue about. Maybe that might have been to do with his shoulder?

As to Tait - haven't his problems been with the back rather than the shoulder?

 

[Pratters]

Swervy: Yeah, the left leg.. I am pretty sure.

 

[Swervy]

Swervy: Yeah, the left leg.. I am pretty sure.

If you look at the moment Malinga plants his left leg, there doesnt appear to be any more 'action' on the hip than with most bowlers. Where the strain does appear is in the back.

 

[Pratters]

If you look at the moment Malinga plants his left leg, there doesnt appear to be any more 'action' on the hip than with most bowlers. Where the strain does appear is in the back.

The front leg part: I can't debate further I guess because I am on dialup for the next 7-10 days and can't try to find out a video which could show regarding the strain. I can assure you that Ian Chappell and John Wright were discussing regarding the pressure on Malinga's left leg as well during a lunch segment on Sony Max. Maybe try to find some videos on youtube to explore further I guess. I would love to do the same but can't at the moment. There would be stress on the back as well of course. Not sure how much it would be compared to the leg though. I remember Ian Chappell spoke how he met Thommo in an airport years after retirement and he was limping. The reason Thommo gave was his left leg had been effected over the years and was causing pain during that point of time.

 

[shortpitched713]

The most likely cadidate for long term injury for Malinga is stress fractures, imo. He puts a lot more stress on his front leg than most bowlers I've seen. I really don't think his shoulder should be much of a problem if he is given adequate rest and is not overbowled. Baseball pitchers put the same amount of stress on their shoulder and a closer can pitch in half of the games in a 162 game season with games played every day.

 

[Swervy]

The most likely cadidate for long term injury for Malinga is stress fractures, imo. He puts a lot more stress on his front leg than most bowlers I've seen. I really don't think his shoulder should be much of a problem if he is given adequate rest and is not overbowled. Baseball pitchers put the same amount of stress on their shoulder and a closer can pitch in half of the games in a 162 game season with games played every day.

again, I must be really missing something here. I have watched his action in slow motion from a number of angles and I just dont see it.

Stress Fractures, of what? Lillee suffered from stress fractures in the back, Imran suffered from it in his shins it can happen to anyone who continually puts stress on the skeleton with the jumping motion a bowler goes through. I dont see that Malinga does that more than anyone else!

 

[pup11]

I think nobody in CW underrates Malinga, he is a freak with great potential and he has been consistent too in recent times.



But Malinga's true test of fitness would be when he plays for Sri Lanka on a regular basis in both test cricket and ODI cricket.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I think nobody in CW underrates Malinga, he is a freak with great potential and he has been consistent too in recent times.



But Malinga's true test of fitness would be when he plays for Sri Lanka on a regular basis in both test cricket and ODI cricket.