Tomorrow is day 1 of the 2nd Test England vs Sri Lanka
The first test was drawn despite England being expected to win it due to a rearguard action from the Sri Lankan batsmen
Sri Lanka are expected to make changes to their bowlers and hotly tipped to play is the unusual Lasith Malinga dubbed “the slinger” because of his unusual slingshot action as Mike Selvey writes for the guardian newspaper.
Looking more like a javelin thrower he is able to bowl very fast (90+ mph), and is difficult to read from the arm due to his low action. He is young too at 22 with a promising future if he is able to maintain consistency. His unusual action stems from playing cricket in the streets of Galle
Some photos of the action:



(all these photos are hosted on other web sites so may not load for everyone)

Comparisons have been made initially with a west indian bowler, also young, also short in stature, Fidel Edwards. He rose to the side while bowling to captain Brian Lara in the nets. Lara was so impressed he told the selectors to pick him despite having played only one match for his island team of Barbados. Upon selection the papers were full of writers saying “Fidel who?” He silenced his critics when he took 5 wickets against Sri Lanka in his debut match in 2003:

Another bowler who springs to mind is one who is often talked about in the fastest bowlers of all time, Jeff Thomson. Like Lasith Malinga, he had a reason for developing his action. He used to play cricket in his back yard which didn’t have room for a long runup, and the most efficient way to bowl fast was again to use the slingshot action:


In the 1970’s Thomson was timed bowling at nearly 100mph while his bowling partner, one of the greatest Australian bowlers Dennis Lillee was timed at 90mph.

All that said, the 2nd test match is being held in Birmingham, and the forecast is not good for the first three days, so chances are there won’t be too much play till sunday.