Woakes: England must find solution to Malinga yorkers
England have to “learn a way” to combat Lasith Malinga before tomorrow’s third one-day international and will have a meeting to discuss conquering his mesmerising slower-ball yorkers.
Malinga looked far younger than his 35 years as he took five for 44 in the second ODI in Dambulla on Saturday. He dismissed four batsmen with slower-ball yorkers, deliveries that dip late and can leave players groping for air as if batting against mystery spin.
One of his victims was Chris Woakes and he admitted that England had work to do to prevent Malinga running through them again in what could be close matches in this series, due to the weather and results decided by a method which punishes teams for losing wickets.
“We will, as a batting group, have a chat and review how we went in the last game. We certainly feel we could play him better,” said Woakes. “We can’t let him get five for 40 every game. He is a world-class performer. He doesn’t seem to make it any easier for us.
“We’ll certainly have to look at a few plans that we can use to combat him, particularly slower balls. We’ve combated him in the past and hopefully we can fall back on that and get it right next time.”
Malinga’s deliveries are particularly hard for new batsmen. Moeen Ali was bowled for a golden duck and Liam Dawson lasted only one ball. Woakes fared a bit better, surviving six balls and digging out two yorkers until he was lbw to his seventh Malinga delivery. England were 209 for four going into the final 10 overs, when Malinga came back to bowl with the older ball, and finished on 278 for nine.
Malinga’s action barely changes between his normal pace, around 80mph, and his slower ball, making him hard for a batsman to pick.
“It’s tough,” Woakes said. “He’s probably not as quick as he used to be but his arm speed is still up there and it doesn’t slow down for that slower ball. And it comes out [from in front] of the umpire a bit, so it’s hard to see. It is tricky but we have to find a way.”
At nets yesterday, Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, bowled a few side-arm deliveries with his “dog thrower”, which had been taped black, possibly to match the shirt colour of the umpire.
It is hard to imagine two more different new-ball bowlers than Malinga and Woakes. One is the uncoached freak of nature, the other the orthodox English seamer. Only South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada has taken more wickets than Woakes in the first powerplay (the opening 10 overs) in one-day cricket since the last World Cup in 2015. Woakes has 32 wickets, just one behind Rabada.
Woakes is dangerous when there is any movement with the new ball, as there was in Dambulla after the monsoon left moisture in the pitch. Kandy is suffering similar rainfall, so he can expect more joy tomorrow – if the game beats the rain.