Malinga magic turns Pallekele fans into a frenzy

Malinga magic turns Pallekele fans into a frenzy

PALLEKELE, Friday – Legendary fast bowler Lasith Malinga rolled back the years to reproduce another destructive spell of bowling to relive the moments of his four in four balls against South Africa in the 2007 World Cup when he repeated that feat against New Zealand in the third and final T20 International at the Pallekele International Stadium yesterday to bowl Sri Lanka to a morale-boosting 37-run win.Sri Lanka defended their moderate total of 125-8 largely through the magnificence of Malinga who bowled a destructive first spell of three overs where he captured the first five New Zealand wickets to have them tottering at 23-5 in the fifth over. Only some late resistance from the New Zealand skipper Tim Southee named Player of the Series -28 not out off 23 balls (3 sixes) saw them reach 88 all out in 16 overs.