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Lasith Malinga.

DaRick

State Vice-Captain
IMO, Lasith Malinga relies greatly on his shock value, especially in Test cricket. That's why he was very impressive early on - neither the Australians nor the New Zealanders could play him all that effectively because the angle he bowled from was so unorthodox. Then again, if ever a team has been renowned for unorthodoxy (whether it be in the type of bowlers they produce or just in overall tactics), it is Sri Lanka.

Naturally, he has become progessively less effective as he's bowled more, as batsmen get used to his angle (tellingly, he is also at his best during the first test in a series). He does have a stunning yorker, a sharp bouncer, a clever slower ball and can generate some reverse swing, but as his pace has dropped with the advent of injury, his strike power has waned. Unfortunately, he is meant to be an all-out strike bowler. IMO, he's not accurate enough to perform a holding role.

In the ODI's and T20's, he is a very effective bowler, because of the weapons that I just mentioned. He is probably one of the most effective death bowlers going around when fit (witness that 4-in-4 spell against SA, for instance).
 

rivera213

U19 Vice-Captain
By a crazy coincidence just as I read this post I was watching the Flight of the Conchords and heard that line delivered...

I'm a bit freaked out by that actually
Ha ha.

That's happened to me before too.

I haven't actually seen F.o.t.C. People are raving about it so must catch it sometime.
 

rivera213

U19 Vice-Captain
Really? Can't say I noticed that TBH, he was always more of an old-ball inswinger than new-ball outswinger in said top-end series in 2004. Either way, it's still independent from what happened with his pace and accuracy
I actually think his outswinger (to the RH) was his only truly intentional swing ball. The inswinger to the right hander was more of a natural effect of the angle on the crease and his action I feel. Essentially his 2 balls were "swing" (which for him was outswing) and "straight" (which may or may not have swung in depending on his angle and where he let go of the ball). He never had too much control at the begin of his career and when I tried his action for myself, all the balls looked as though they would've swunginto the RH though I tried to bowl straight.

His accuracy has definitely improved, but I'm sure it wasn't just a coincedence his pace (average speed) increased when he adopted more of an out-blast mentality (before his injury). He went up by as many as 20kph hitting 150kph a number of times.

He bowls at his best around 87-90mph (135-145kph), though once he's fully back in the swing of things (later this year more than likely) he'll be able to get it up to 93mph (150kph). I'm sure he's looked at his 4-in-4 moment and noticed all were between the 135-145kph bracket and not 150kph+. He loses a bit of control (naturally) when bowling as fast as he can and he doesn't really need to.

It'll be interesting to see how he bowls in tests. He's already a very useful limited overs bowler but I'm not overly convinced by him at test level. He can't bowl the same as he has in the IPL thus far since that's hard to maintain.


It's the funniest thing to come out of New Zealand since Ken Rutherford's nose.
Praise indeed! Lol

My nose isn't much better unfortunately. Ha ha
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Alfred Mynn, 6 feet tall, weighing 18 stones and bowling round arm (see painting below) is said to have bowled at a very fast pace indeed.

When HS Altham wrote in his History of Cricket . . .
"With a few deliberate and majestic strides, bringing his arm round in a swing as smooth as a piston-rod, he projected the ball assuredly faster than any English bowler today" Cardus dismissed it as "a tall statement to make in 1926" although he (Cardus) went on to recall "a more or less anonymous Brown of Brighton (who) was reputed to have released the ball at so great a speed as to kill a dog on the boundary behind the wicket."

To see Malinga bowl at the furious pace to completely unsettle "warriors' like Dhoni and provide enough pace for a flick from Kallis to land far beyond the square leg boundary, is to appreciate that just because we hadn't seen round arm bowling (nor bowled it ourselves) was no reason to reject outright the possibility of great pace being generated by unorthodox actions.

 

oitoitoi

State Vice-Captain
although he (Cardus) went on to recall "a more or less anonymous Brown of Brighton (who) was reputed to have released the ball at so great a speed as to kill a dog on the boundary behind the wicket."


It's stories such as those that make this such a unique and great sport. Killed a dog on the boundary, I love it!
 

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