Hat-tricks, yorkers and an iconic action: Lasith Malinga's 10 of the best

CHARLIE PETERS picks out 10 standout moments from the career of the Sri Lankan quick, who announced his retirement from cricket this week...

4 for 54 - Sri Lanka v South Africa, World Cup 2007

South Africa were sitting comfortably on 206 for 5 in their Super Eights clash against Sri Lanka, and needed just four runs to win from 32 balls. Enter Lasith Malinga, for a spell of astonishing individual brilliance.

After clean bowling Shaun Pollock with a trademark yorker, Malinga removed Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini in consecutive deliveries to leave the Proteas teetering on the edge with just one wicket remaining.

South Africa eventually crawled across the line to claim victory, but Malinga’s lethal four-in-four put him on the map as a young bowler of exceptional talent. The world was now watching.

^{Lasith Malinga celebrates a wicket against South Africa in 2007}

5 for 50 - Sri Lanka v India, Test, 2010

Malinga will be most remembered for his exploits with the white ball, but he was more than capable of brilliance in the Test arena too.

The seamer wreaked havoc in the second innings of the first Test against India in 2010, accounting for the key scalps of Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni, as well as tailender Abhimanyu Mithun.

Malinga would only play one more Tin his career – the next game in the series proved to be his last – but his man-of-the-match performance in his penultimate appearance proved that he by no means lacked red-ball ability.

6 for 38 - Sri Lanka v Kenya, World Cup 2011

It was only fitting that Malinga made history in front of a home crowd in Colombo. Kenya were the unfortunate victims, as he yet again nailed a series of deadly yorkers to claim his second World Cup hat-trick, the first – and currently only – bowler to have done so.

His figures of 6 for 38 helped lead Sri Lanka to a comfortable nine-wicket victory, and ended up as his career-best ODI return.

Post-match, Malinga told ESPNCricinfo that he learned to bowl yorkers by watching Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram. But after performances like this on the world stage, his technique grew to become arguably even more iconic than those of the great Pakistanis.

5 for 13 - Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils, Indian Premier League, 2011

Malinga soon became a fixture on the T20 franchise circuit, and announced himself in the IPL by rattling through the Delhi Daredevils line-up to skittle them for 95. 

Four of his five wickets were clean bowled, including David Warner and Yenugopal Rao, as he yorkered his way to what was then the third best bowling figures the IPL had seen.

Alzarri Joseph and Adam Zampa have since pushed the Sri Lankan down to sixth place, but there’s no question that Malinga’s display will live on as one of the most ferocious spells to ever trouble IPL batters.

^{A familiar sight in the IPL}

5 for 31 - Sri Lanka v England, World T20, 2012

Sri Lanka ended the group stage of 2012’s World T20 unbeaten, in no small part thanks to their talismanic seamer’s efforts.

Malinga’s ability to change games within the space of a few deliveries was unparalleled, and that was demonstrated remarkably against England.

The seamer sent England’s top three of Luke Wright, Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow packing in a single over, for a combined total of 17. He then accounted for Samit Patel and Jos Buttler to claim yet another T20 five-fer, helping steer Sri Lanka to a 19-run victory in a run that took them to the final.

6 for 7 - Melbourne Stars v Perth Scorchers, Big Bash, 2012

Marcuses North and Stoinis were among the victims, as Malinga’s career best figures of 6 for 7 helped Melbourne Stars flatten Perth Scorchers in a brutal victory.

The Scorchers had no answer to Malinga’s armoury, which was becoming increasingly refined. A slower ball yorker that sent tailender Joe Mennie on his way was perhaps the highlight of this breath-taking spell, a supremely difficult skill executed to sheer perfection by a master of his trade.

The game may have ended in rain-affected confusion, but not even the downpour could take the shine of Malinga’s world-class display.

4 for 34 - Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Champions Trophy, 2013

It’s tradition that player of the match is awarded to a member of the winning side, but if ever there was a time when convention deserved to be thrown away, this was it.

New Zealand scraped past Sri Lanka in a low-scoring thriller at Sophia Gardens, but had to survive a deadly spell from Malinga to do so – and they only just managed.

Defending 138, Malinga first pinned Kane Williamson plumb in front, before sending Daniel Vettori and both Brendon and Nathan McCullum back to the Cardiff pavilion to leave New Zealand teetering on the brink. Sri Lanka may have lost, but Malinga bringing them within touching distance was a miracle in itself.

5 for 56 - Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Asia Cup, 2014

By 2014, Malinga was beginning to lose some of the raw pace that had served him so well when first breaking onto the scene. But that didn’t make him any less effective.

He claimed all five of Sri Lanka’s wickets in the 2014 Asia Cup final versus Pakistan, including captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez, an effort that would help them go on to a five-wicket victory.

Malinga proved that injury problems and his declining fitness were not enough to hamper his outrageous skill level, turning it on when his team needed him the most.

^{Malinga on international duty for Sri Lanka at the 2014 Asia Cup}

4 for 43 - Sri Lanka v England, World Cup, 2019

This was a game that eventual champions England really should have won. But Malinga, of course, had other ideas.

Defending 232, he dismissed Jonny Bairstow for a first-ball duck, before tempting James Vince to flash at one and nick through to the slips. Joe Root and Jos Buttler became his next two victims, as the seamer led the way to an upset that threatened to make England’s qualification for the next round difficult.

Even at 35, Malinga was still capable of summoning up that match-winning magic that had created his legend all those years ago.

5 for 6 - Sri Lanka v New Zealand, T20, 2019

Some 12 years after threatening to claw back a miraculous victory against South Africa, Malinga did it again.

Colin Munro, Hamish Rutherford, Colin de Grandhomme and Ross Taylor all fell one after another to the hands of the great Sri Lankan, claiming his second spell of four wickets from four balls in international cricket.

The fact the match was a dead rubber, with New Zealand having already wrapped up a series victory, was of little relevance.

Malinga would only play a handful more games for Sri Lanka before announcing his retirement, but it speaks volumes of the seamer’s ever-lasting ability that his best T20I performance came so close to the end of his career.