Melbourne Stars super slinger Lasith Malinga showcased his amazing Twenty20 bowling skills by tying the Brisbane Heat in knots in their Big Bash League clash at the Gabba.
Widely regarded as the best T20 bowler in world cricket, Malinga took 3-26 from his four overs as the Heat made 5-171 on a good batting wicket.
It took the Heat, sent in by Shane Warne, until the Sri Lankan’s 11th ball to score off him but, by that time, he’d taken three wickets.
Warne had looked to outsmart the Heat, who revealed pre-match they would play Malinga with caution, by holding him back in the innings.
But Warne did have egg on his face twice in the field – dropping a regulation catch off Chris Lynn and also calling Luke Wright to take a skied ball from Thisara Perera that landed where the 43-year-old had been standing.
Lynn (26 not out off 17 balls) then bashed Malinga 100m over mid-wicket in a 17-run last over that lifted them towards a par score.
Malinga had stopped a blistering start by Brisbane’s openers in its tracks when he dismissed Luke Pomersbach with his first ball in the fifth over.
The Heat surprised by promoting gloveman Chris Hartley to No.3 after dropping Joe Burns but the wicketkeeper struggled to find the boundary.
With James Hopes (49 off 40) leading the way, the pair put on a two-paced 63-run stand and set a solid foundation at 1-96 after 12 overs.
But Malinga returned and, like his first over, made a breakthrough with his first ball as Hartley was embarrassed by a well-concealed slower ball.
Hopes followed the next delivery, bowled by a slow yorker, and the Stars’ hopes were shining bright in front of a 24,500-strong crowd.
“When he gets his slower ball right, it makes it tricky,” Hartley conceded.
Tempers frayed late in the innings when Clint McKay and Dan Christian engaged in a heated mid-pitch exchange, trading insults from close quarters, after the batsman prevented a run-out with his running line.
AAP