Malinga unavailable for Stars' must-win game

Updated January 08, 2013 16:33:41

Melbourne Stars will be without Lasith Malinga for tonight's must-win Big Bash League match against the Sydney Thunder, leading them to draft England all-rounder Dimitri Mascheranas into their squad.

It was initially expected that the Stars would have to do without David Hussey and Glenn Maxwell, but Cricket Australia has let both play before reporting to international duty ahead of Friday's ODI at the MCG.

Australia's opponents Sri Lanka have not been as lenient with Malinga, who only plays for his country in limited forms of the game, meaning he will join suspended skipper Shane Warne on the sidelines.

Test bowler Jackson Bird is likely to come into the side for Malinga.

Mascheranas, who played with Warne for Hampshire in England and the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, could provide extra depth to the star-studded batting order that has disappointed in recent games.

Victory for the Stars against the winless Thunder would see them secure a semi-final berth.

Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, melbourne-3000

First posted January 08, 2013 13:41:41

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Malinga schools Sri Lanka on MCG

Updated December 21, 2012 16:39:19

Sri Lanka is tapping into Lasith Malinga's local knowledge as it prepares for its first MCG Test in 17 years.

None of the current tourists were around for Sri Lanka's only previous Test at the ground - the Boxing Day Test of 1995 - when Muttiah Muralidaran was famously no-balled for throwing.

Retired Test speedster Malinga, playing in the Big Bash League with the MCG-based Melbourne Stars, was at his national team's training session on Friday, talking with coaching staff and players.

In-form batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan said while the pitches for the shorter forms of the game would differ from that for the Test, Malinga's advice would be useful for Sri Lanka's inexperienced attack.

"When you're playing one-day cricket, he's having a chat with all the bowlers, he's leading the bowling and he's a leader for the Sri Lankan team," Dilshan told reporters after training.

"He's giving some tips.

"He's playing here - he might know what's happening with the wicket, how the wicket is behaving here, especially as he's been playing the last two weeks here.

"I think it's good for the bowlers to hang around with him."

But while bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake on Thursday expressed hope that Malinga might return to Test cricket, Dilshan considered that highly unlikely.

"If he comes back, it's good for the side definitely - everyone is happy if Lasith can play - but I don't think he's going to change his mind," he said.

Dilshan said the Sri Lankans would relish the opportunity to play Tests at the famous MCG and SCG.

The 36-year-old, who has scored three 100s in his past four Tests, including in the first innings against Australia in Hobart, confirmed he was contemplating retirement from Test cricket.

He said the Sydney Test could be his last outside Sri Lanka.

Fellow batsman Thilan Samaraweera has already said this might be his last overseas Test tour, while Mahela Jayawardene plans to relinquish the captaincy after this series.

AAP

Tags: cricket, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, sri-lanka

First posted December 21, 2012 16:39:19

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Malinga sets record as Perth hit all time low

Updated December 13, 2012 06:58:08

Lasith Malinga took 6 for 7, the best ever figures in domestic Twenty20, as the Melbourne Stars dismissed the Perth Scorchers for 69 - the lowest ever Big Bash score - en route to a 10-wicket win.

Amid farcical scenes, the Stars returned to the field on 0 for 29 from two overs after a rain delay and were required to face one ball before being awarded the game via the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Most onlookers believed five overs had to be played to bring about a result, but the umpires ruled that as the Stars had already exceeded the necessary target needed at that point in the game (6), they were awarded the match.

Scorchers captain Simon Katich did not like the finish to the game at all with the sides coming back out for one ball after over an hour of constant rain.

But he admitted to not deserving to get a point anyway thanks to Malinga's spell.

"He bowled beautifully," Katich said.

"He bowled yorkers that were on the money from the word go, swung the ball and then he had good variations with his slower ball and the odd bumper.

"Unfortunately we just couldn't counter it and he won them the game singlehandedly.

"It was farcical, but they deserved to win and we don't hide away from that. It probably should have been (called off), but that's the way it goes.

"It's never going to be fair because they did deserve to win the game, but at the same time the conditions still have to be playable for both teams and we had a lot of rain in that hour."

Malinga's new-ball partner James Faulkner began the carnage in the Perth innings dismissing Herschelle Gibbs (0) and added the wicket of Katich (0) after Malinga had bowled Marcus North (1) in his first over.

The Sri Lankan slinger took the wicket of Marcus Stoinis (9) in the following over to leave the Scorchers decimated at 4 for 16.

Malinga himself was pleased with the way the Stars bounced back from last Friday's loss to the Renegades.

"Everyone was waiting for the win after we lost the first game," he said.

"We know we have a good side and we have a long way to go in the tournament still, but this win is very important to us.

"Last week was a tough and tight game, but after that everyone did well in this match and we now will try and take that into the future matches."

Adam Voges and rookie Hilton Cartwright steadied the shop until the end of the powerplay but Stars skipper Shane Warne forced a breakthrough in his second over trapping the former leg before.

Malinga then returned to the attack had top-scorer Cartwright (17) caught at midwicket, trapped the next two leg before, before bowling Joe Mennie (2) to take his haul to six.

Luke Wright then took the final wicket of Michael Beer to leave Perth with the unwanted record of the lowest ever total in Australian Twenty20 competition - beating New South Wales' total of 71 against Western Australia, also at the WACA Ground - in 2010.

The only cricketer to record better bowling figures than Malinga is Malaysian part-time spinner Arul Suppiah who took 6 for 5 for Somerset against Glamorgan in 2011.

The Stars in response reached their target in two overs, with Luke Wright hitting 23 off 11 balls, before rain forced the players off.

Rob Quiney (1) faced the lone ball after the resumption, a swinging ball down the leg side from Cartwright.

AAP

Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, perth-6000, melbourne-3000

First posted December 12, 2012 21:31:53

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Sri Lanka's Malinga quits Tests

Posted April 23, 2011 08:19:00

Injury-prone Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga has quit Test cricket in a bid to prolong his career in one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches.

Malinga is playing for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League and had recently made himself unavailable for Sri Lanka's tour of England, attracting criticism that he had chosen to play for club over country.

"In January this year I wrote a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket and released a statement to the media confirming that I planned to reassess my Test future after the World Cup," he said in a statement.

"I decided that I needed to make myself unavailable for Test cricket in an effort to prolong my career as a national cricketer for Sri Lanka.

"Although I am sufficiently fit to play both ODI and T20 cricket, I have a long-standing degenerative condition in my right knee that needs to be carefully managed."

The 27-year-old Malinga, known for bowling accurate yorkers, bagged 101 wickets in 30 Tests with his slinging action since making his debut against Australia in Darwin in 2004.

He took a three-year break from Test cricket until coming back to the format when he figured in a home series against India in 2010. He has three five-wicket hauls in a Test innings to his credit.

"I did try to return to Test cricket after a three-year absence last year following requests from the team management and the selectors, but it left me unfit nursing severe knee pain for two months," Malinga said.

"I have realised that the heavy workload of Test cricket, which requires a fast bowler to be able to bowl more than 15 overs, sometimes on consecutive days, could lead to permanent injury.

"I have carefully considered my options and have decided that not playing Test cricket will help me achieve my goal of representing Sri Lanka in the 2012 World Twenty20 and the 2015 World Cup."

- AFP

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