Sri Lankan slingshot Lasith Malinga became the first man to claim two World Cup hat-tricks on Tuesday with a sensational destruction of hapless Kenya, comfortably the tournament's worst team.
Sri Lankan slingshot Lasith Malinga became the first man to claim two World Cup hat-tricks on Tuesday with a sensational destruction of hapless Kenya, comfortably the tournament's worst team.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 27-year-old, who took four wickets in four balls against South Africa in the 2007 edition, finished with a career best 6-38 as Kenya were bowled out for 142, struggling under a barrage of trademark Malinga toe-crushers.
Opener Upal Tharanga then hit an unbeaten 67 as Sri Lanka raced to a nine-wicket win with more than 31 overs to spare.
"Lasith as usual, the champion that he is, the ball reversing, he did a great job for us," said Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara, whose team had lost by just 11 runs to Pakistan on Saturday.
Malinga had Tanmay Mishra lbw with the final ball of the 42nd over and then clean-bowled Peter Ongondo and Shem Ngoche with the first two of the 44th to complete his hat-trick.
Malinga, who had earlier dismissed opener Seren Waters and top-scorer Collins Obuya, missed the chance for another four in four when he unleashed a wide past Elijah Otieno.
But he was not to be denied, clean-bowling the hapless number 11 with another unplayable delivery for a fourth wicket in six balls.
His hat-trick was the second of this World Cup following West Indies seamer Kemar Roach's achievement against the Netherlands on Monday.
"Every time the captain gives me the ball, he asks for a wicket," said Malinga, who missed the first two matches with a back strain.
Kenya, who went into the Group A game at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo with the tournament's worst record, were 8-2 at one stage before brothers Collins (52) and David Obuya (51) put on 94 for the third wicket.
But their last seven wickets went for the addition of just 22 runs to leave the home side with a straightforward target to avenge their shock 53-run defeat against Kenya in Nairobi in the 2003 World Cup.
Speaking about the Obuya brothers, Kenya captain Jimmy Kamande said: "They played very well but they could have been there until the end because they were settled."
"It's always going to be hard work for the new batsmen coming in so once they got out we crumbled again. It's like a habit for us now," added Kamande, whose team had already lost by 10 wickets to New Zealand and 205 runs to Pakistan.
The West Indies' Roach, whose hat-trick came in the 215-run win over the Netherlands on Monday, said his side have nothing to fear ahead of Friday's showdown against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
The game could be crucial in deciding the fourth team from Group B to make the quarter-finals with India, England and South African expected to snatch the other three berths.
"We take a lot of confidence into the game against Bangladesh," said Roach, who finished with a career-best 6-27 against the Dutch, celebrating a hat-trick when he sent back Pieter Seelaar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdijk.
"Bangladesh are an improving team but we are better than them."
Defending champions Australia, meanwhile, dismissed as "laughable" claims that the International Cricket Council was investigating their match against Zimbabwe for slow batting.
"It's quite a laughable story. It's a joke," said wicketkeeper and opener Brad Haddin.
Haddin and Shane Watson made sedate progress against Zimbabwe's spinners early in their innings in the February 21 Group A game in Ahmedabad, reaching 5-0 from two overs and 28-0 off the first 11 overs.
The pair eventually added 61 in 18.4 overs as Australia made 262-6, with Haddin scoring 29 off 66 balls before falling lbw to Prosper Utseya.
"It's not a case (of match-fixing), we just got off the mark a bit slowly," said Haddin.
The Times of India website said the slow start in the first two overs was "scrutinised by the International Cricket Council anti-corruption and security unit".
u00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
