Five-star Malinga too hot for Scots
Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga ensured the islanders tour of Britain ended on a winning note as he took five wickets in a 183-run one-day international rout of Scotland in London on Wednesday.
Beaten in both Test and one-day series by England, the World Cup finalists proved too strong for a Scotland side who had only the day before piled up 323 in a shock win over fellow non-Test team Ireland.
Sri Lanka made 284 for seven, featuring fifties from openers Mahela Jayawardene (64) and Dimuth Karunaratne (60).
They then saw Malinga, one of the most difficult bowlers in world cricket to face on account of his round-arm, ‘slingshot’, style take five for 30 as Scotland were shot out for 101 with Majid Haq’s 34 double the next best score of any other home batsman.
Malinga, 27, who has retired from Test cricket, earlier made a rapid unbeaten 32 off 15 balls with two sixes but it was his bowling that did the damage.
“He is world class and unfortunately we came up against him at his best and didn’t have an answer,” said Scotland captain Gordon Drummond.
“I think it’s the uniqueness of how he delivers the ball. We knew he was going to be difficult to face but knowing it and actually doing something about it is different things.
“In particular, his slower ball is awkward to see, and it is about 30mph slower, so it’s a good delivery to have in your repertoire.
“And if you hit yorkers bang on they’re difficult to play, and that showed today. I think he bowled four guys.
“We were trying to keep him out and see if we could get up to four an over from him.
“But when you can bowl yorkers like that consistently at 90mph, it’s very difficult to plan against unless you have people brave enough to ramp him or flick him over fine-leg.
“I think guys were just trying to get used to him and score off the other end but his yorkers were too good.
“His arm is hidden when he pulls back and it just comes through, and it comes through quickly too.
“But it’s unbelievable control he has got. He is not just swinging it down there willy-nilly, he actually has control, and that’s why he is so good.”
Scoreboard
Sri Lanka
M. Jayawardene c Coetzer b Haq 64
D. Karunaratne c MacLeod b Haq 60
T. Dilshan c Maiden b Davey 6
T. Kandamby c Sharif b Mommsen 20
D. Chandimal c and b Mommsen 24
A. Mathews c MacLeod b Drummond 23
J. Mendis not out 34
T. Perera c MacLeod b Goudie 9
L. Malinga not out 32
Extras (lb8, w4) 12
Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 284
Did not bat: D Prasad, A Mendis
Fall of wickets: 1-101 (Jayawardene), 2-126 (Dilshan), 3-140 (Karunaratne), 4-171 (Kandamby), 5-189 (Chandimal), 6-218 (Mathews), 7-238 (Perera)
Bowling: Drummond 10-0-53-1 (2w); Sharif 5-0-48-0; Goudie 8-1-35-1; Davey 9-1-45-1 (1w); Berrington 4-0-23-0; Haq 10-0-53-2; Mommsen 4-0-19-2 (1w)
Scotland
F. Watts c Jayawardene b Malinga 3
K. Coetzer b Malinga 10
C. MacLeod b Malinga 0
J. Davey lbw b Prasad 17
P. Mommsen lbw b A Mendis 8
R. Berrington c Chandimal b Prasad 0
G. Maiden lbw b Perera 0
M. Haq c Chandimal b Prasad 34
G. Drummond b Malinga 5
S. Sharif not out 9
G. Goudie c J Mendis b Malinga 0
Extras (lb4, w9, nb2) 15
Total (all out, 32.4 overs) 101
Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Watts), 2-12 (MacLeod), 3-21 (Coetzer), 4-36 (Davey), 5-36 (Berrington), 6-44 (Maiden), 7-48 (Mommsen), 8-76 (Drummond), 9-99 (Haq), 10-101 (Goudie)
Bowling: Malinga 9.4-2-30-5 (5w); Prasad 7-1-17-3 (2w); Perera 6-0-20-1 (1w); A Mendis 8-2-24-1 (2nb, 1w); J Mendis 2-0-6-0
Result: Sri Lanka won by 183 runs
Toss: Scotland
Umpires: Marais Erasmus (RSA) and Ian Ramage (SCO)