Lasith Malinga the first man in International cricket to take four wickets in four balls – The Clip

 

Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga was unaware he had become the first man in international cricket to take four wickets in four balls, against South Africa in the World Cup Super Eights.

“I didn’t know if anyone else had taken four,” Malinga told a news conference. “I know now I was the first person and I’m very happy. But my team lost the game.”

Lasith Malinga took four wickets in four consecutive balls – against South Africa in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The batsmen dismissed were:

* Shaun Pollock (13) bowled

* Andrew Hall (0) caught at cover

* Jacques Kallis (86) caught behind

* Makhaya Ntini (0) bowled.

This is the first and only instance of four wickets in four consecutive balls in One Day International or for that matter in any form of international cricket.

Malinga, whose low, slingy action has courted controversy, was eventually made joint man-of-match with five-wicket South African Charl Langeveldt after an initial mix-up where only Langeveldt was named.

“You’ve got to give Malinga some credit, he is an awkward bowler. He just ran in and gave it his all,” Smith said.

South Africa survive Malinga menacing spell

An extraordinary spell of fast bowling from Lasith Malinga, where he strung together a devastating sequence of four wickets in four balls, threatened to produce the greatest one-day heist before South Africa scrambled to a dramatic one-wicket victory in a heart-stopping Super Eights clash in Guyana.

South Africa needed a meagre four runs to win with five wickets in hand when Malinga finished batsmen as if swatting flies. He fooled Shaun Pollock with a beauty of a slower ball before hurrying Andrew Hall with a juddering yorker that looped up to cover. The first ball of the next over produced the hat-trick, the fifth in World Cups, when the set Jacques Kallis nicked to the wicketkeeper before a brute of a yorker zoomed past Makhaya Ntini.

No bowler in one-day history has managed four in four – Saqlain Mushtaq has managed four in five – and Malinga took Sri Lanka to the brink of an outrageous day-light robbery. Robin Peterson and Charl Langeveldt survived a nervy 11 deliveries before a thick outside edge flew off Peterson’s bat to seal the deal. South Africa have laughed off the tag of ‘chokers’ but they were a hairsbreadth away from out-doing their previous stumblings. Sri Lanka made far too many mistakes but the fact that they got so close was a testament to their depth and variety.

Malinga’s burst overshadowed the first five-wicket haul of the tournament – Langeveldt’s 5 for 39 which restricted Sri Lanka. South Africa had adjusted smartly to the slow, spongy pitch at the brand new Providence Stadium. The conditions were far removed from St Kitts, where South Africa were based during the first round. At Providence, the ground was much larger, the pitch slower, and batsmen relied on nudges rather than lofts. The conditions should have suited Sri Lanka but poor shot selection from the top order and reckless slogs from the tail pegged them back. South Africa’s seamers, led by the skiddy Langeveldt, turned in an efficient performance under gloomy skies before Graeme Smith and Kallis steered the run-chase with contrasting half-centuries.

Sri Lanka came desperately close and will no doubt rue the missed half-chances: two tough catches off Kallis went to ground, once when he was on six and another on 75, when Malinga fluffed a low return catch. Strange as it may sound, Malinga was the most erratic bowler on the day, conceding close to six an over, and missed two direct hits as well. Mahela Jayawardene’s decision at the toss probably backfired – the sun was out later in the afternoon and the pitch somewhat eased up – but his decision to hold back Muralitharan, and then not keep more fielders in the ring during the final stages, were critical to the outcome. His decision to delay the third Powerplay till the 44th over nearly came off but that was only owing to Malinga’s unexpected spell.

Smith set the pace before Kallis prodded them to victory. Smith’s aggression blended well with Kallis’s graft. While one bullied the bowlers with a combination of jabs, punches and cover-drives, the other thwarted through taps, glides and blocks. Of Smith’s 59, 38 came off Malinga and Farveez Maharoof, the most wayward bowlers in the early part. Of Kallis’s 86, 56 came in singles. One reeked urgency; the other absorbed pressure.

Murali broke the 94-run stand between Smith and Kallis before returning to remove Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher off successive deliveries. He teased from around the wicket and varied the turn. His deceived Smith and Gibbs in the flight, one couldn’t get his back foot back in time while the other bobbed a return catch, before outwitting Boucher with a quick offbreak, one that was angled from around the wicket, pitched on off and turned fatally. If South Africa thought that double-blow was rattling, what was to follow nearly stunned them.

Sri Lanka will also rue the poor batting display. If one discounts Sanath Jayasuriya’s 27-ball 26 at the start, the game, for most part, meandered along at a lethargic pace. Upul Tharanga fell early, poking at an angled delivery from Ntini, but it was the dismissals of Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Chamara Silva that had them struggling. Jayasuriya slashed indiscreetly, Sangakkara edged a short one down the leg side while Silva, while going for a non-existent single, was undone by an exceptional run-out from Gibbs.

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold cobbled together 97 in a revival stand but Sri Lanka’s tail-end collapse almost rivalled South Africa’s. From 194 for 5 they crumbled to 209 with their lower-order batsmen holing out in the deep. It was less dramatic a capitulation, compared to Malinga’s blitz at the end, but proved to be the more costly at the end of the day.

Source:Cricket Worldcup

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15 SEA TIGERS KILLED OFF MULATHIVU

By Walter Jayawardhana

ABOUT 15 SEA TIGERS KILLED, 3 BOATS DESTROYED OFF MULATHIVU IN THE LTTE DOMINATED AREA

SriLanka navy’s Fast Attack Crafts destroyed three Sea Tiger boats killing at least 15 sea tigers off the coast of the LTTE dominated Multhivu during the afternoon hours of Wednesday, March 28, the Sri lanka Navy said.

A naval spokesman Commander Athula Senaratne said, “”A naval patrol has come across about 10 Tiger boats and our boats launched an attack, and we were able to destroy three rebel craft.”

The hours long sea battle came after the security forces have driven off the LTTE from one of their main camps at Kokkadicholai.

The navy said between 15 to 18 Sea Tigers have gone down with the completely destroyed boats.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have complained that about 23 DVORA craft came and attacked them in the area they control.

The Navy said one of their sailors was injured and admitted to the Naval Hospital in Trincomalee.

The Navy spokesman said the battle lasted for four hours. When the Sea Tiger boats moved close to Mulathivu coastal waters the Fast Attack Crafts could not navigate in those waters safely.

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LTTE is having six chech airplanes given by Russian mafia in exchange for drugs

By WalterJayawardhana

INDIAN POLITICAL PARTY LEADER SAYS LTTE IS HAVING SIX CHECH MADE AIRCRFT SUPPLIED BY RUSSIAN MAFIA FOR DRUG EXCHANGE

India’s Janatha Party President Subramaniyan Swamy in a statement said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is possessing six dis-assembled Chech made air planes obtained from the Russian mafia in their hand.

He said the Russian Mafia provided those airplanes in exchange of narcotic trade at Palermo in the Italian province of Sicily.

He said these aircraft were shipped from Sicily to Singapore and from there to Sri Lanka’s LTTE controlled area by sea. He said the spare parts for the aircraft and fuel have been supplied by sources in Chennai.

Subramaniyan Swamy charged all this information was contained in IB reports and the Indian Central government has been sleeping over them.

The following is the rest of Swamy’s statement: “The LTTE recent demonstration of its nascent air power must alert all democratic nations to the need for an immediate response to nip this capability in the bud. The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh must get a Resolution passed at the forthcoming SAARC Meeting for a pre-emptive massive strike at all LTTE installations in Sri Lanka. But, the implementation of the Resolution should be done only after the Sri Lanka Parliament adopts the Constitutional devolution of power sought by the Tamil people.

“LTTE is a terrorist organization whose goals are harmful to India’s strategic interests. Their bonding and cooperation with ULFA, Naxalites, PWG, DK, and Maoists in Nepal make this terrorist organization anti-India in a sinister way. Hence India has a special responsibility.

“The LTTE has also many ‘sleepers’ within the Indian establishment. “The DMK, PMK, and MDMK are unashamed torch bearers of this terrorist organization. Even within the Congress Party, there are some prominent facilitators for the LTTE. The ‘loud’ silence of the Congress top leadership on the demand for extradition of Prabhakaran for facing trial in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination is a ominous indicator of this facilitation.”