by "So many are likening me to Jeff Thomson, but I've never met him, and am
looking forward to very much," says young Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka's newest
fast bowling sensation.
Of course, the most significant aspect to Malinga's thunderbolt, slinging,
side arm action to put it in his own words is that 'it has come from a long
rooted marriage to softball cricket.'
"I've played softball cricket from the age of 13 and have derived my action
from a 7-year long love for softball cricket", said Malinga, who has rocked
the best of batsmen with his awesome 147 kilometre deliveries, in an
interview with the 'Sunday Observer.'
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As Malinga went down memory lane,'I have not changed my action one bit from
my softball playing days as a 13-year old in a cadjan garden in the Ratgama
village in Galle with other kids.' "For me it was a habit of playing
softball cricket almost daily." What started him on a career which beckons
him sky high on the big stage ?
"It was from an under-17 match turning out for Vidyaloka Maha Vidyalaya
versus Neluwa M.V. in the Galle District that started me on. One of the
umpire's in that match, Keerthie Dharmapriya happened to be the coach of
Mahinda College, and when I took 6 wickets he invited me to join Mahinda,"
disclosed Malinga.
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"At the moment I'm unemployed, but expecting employment shortly at the
Hatton National Bank. But over the years it has been my mom, Swarna
Thenuwara employed in a Gramiya Bank who has supported the family.