Malinga shines in international return

Lasith Malinga was on a hat-trick and he took two catches in Sri Lanka's win over Australia.

Lasith Malinga of Sri Lanka

Lasith Malinga was on a hat-trick and he took two catches in Sri Lanka's win over Australia. (AAP)

Michael Klinger called them the two biggest deliveries of Australia's T20 loss to Sri Lanka.

And to no-one's surprise, Lasith Malinga was the bowler.

The Sri Lankan with the slinging action made a great return to top-level international cricket on Friday night, after nearly a year on the sidelines because of injury and illness.

First he took catches to dismiss openers Aaron Finch and Michael Klinger.

Then came the 19th over, when he was on a hat-trick after dismissing Travis Head and Ashton Turner.

Head, a left hander, holed out to Seekugge Prasana at deep third man for 31.

Right-handed Turner then hit a pull shot straight to the same fielder and was out for 18.

"The two biggest balls of the game were when Travis Head and Ashton Turner were dismissed," Klinger said.

"They both hit the ball right out of the middle and just picked out the fielder.

"On some grounds, they're 10 rows back - it's just unfortunate, the big square boundaries at the MCG."

Those two wickets robbed Australia of crucial momentum late in the innings.

Sri Lanka went on to win by five wickets, but scores were tied with one ball left and it took a boundary from Chamara Kapugedera to seal the result.

South African coach Graham Ford said Malinga's return was a massive boost for the team.

"The damage control (by the Sri Lankan bowlers) was really good - it's something they talk about a lot and Malinga is brilliant at leading that discussion, as to how important it is," Ford said.

"He's a very proud man, he's done a lot of great things for the country, in terms of cricket.

"He just makes such a difference and controlling the end overs is something that he does unbelievably well.

"He gives everyone a lot of confidence."

Ford added that Malinga probably would have been prouder of his catches than the wickets.

"It's great to see the hands are working well," Ford said.

"At the end, he's not necessarily searching for wickets - he was searching to control the run rate, damage control.

"But by taking the wickets, that certainly slowed things down at the end there, so it was pretty important."

Much of the 42,511 crowd at the MCG were Sri Lankan fans and Ford said his team relished the support.

"We probably gave them (Australia) a few in the field, so that made the target a little steeper than we'd hoped," Ford said.

"But an excellent chase and the guys held their nerve nicely at the end.

"Although it's not that young a team ... it's fairly inexperienced, so each time they get over the line it does a hell of a lot for their confidence and belief."

Game two of the three-match series is on Sunday night in Geelong.


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Source: AAP



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