Lasith Malinga

The Slinga Malinga: Master of death bowling and hat-tricks.

Separamadu Lasith Malinga (born 28 August 1983) is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers of all time. Playing as a right-arm fast bowler, Malinga was commonly used as a specialist death bowler, and captained the Sri Lanka national cricket team to the 2014 T20 World Cup title. He was nicknamed 'Slinga Malinga' due to his distinctive round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action. He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 14 September 2021.

Quick Facts

Full name: Separamadu Lasith Malinga
Born: 28 August 1983
Birthplace: Galle, Sri Lanka
Batting: Right-handed
Bowling: Right-arm fast
Role: Bowler
Country: Sri Lanka

Lore & Background

Malinga grew up in modest circumstances in Rathgama, a coastal village situated 12 km northwest of Galle. He often played cricket with friends on the sand banks and coconut groves by a river. His father Separamadu Milton is a retired bus mechanic. He had his education at Mahinda College, Vidyaloka College, and Maha Vidyalaya at Thiranagama. He was discovered by former Sri Lankan paceman Champaka Ramanayake, who invited him to join Galle Cricket Club. Malinga practices Buddhism and married Tanya Perera in 2010.

Reader's Guide

Malinga is known for his unorthodox action and dipping slower ball yorkers. He is the only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first bowler to take a double hat-trick, the only bowler to take 4 wickets in 4 balls twice in international cricket, the only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODIs, and the only bowler to have two double hat-tricks. He is also the first bowler to take five hat-tricks across all formats of international cricket, and holds the record for most hat-tricks in international cricket. He became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in Twenty20 International cricket in September 2019.

Did You Know?

He took four wickets in four consecutive balls in the 2007 Cricket World Cup against South Africa.
He announced his retirement from Test cricket on 22 April 2011.
He retired from One Day International cricket on 26 July 2019.