Thursday 28th January 2010
Malinga withdrawn from Lions duty
Lasith Malinga has been withdrawn from playing for the Highveld Lions during the upcoming domestic T20 season.
The South African franchise on Thursday confirmed that the fast bowler had to be pulled out by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board due to "injury and conditioning concerns".
Malinga, who has taken 23 wickets in 18 Twenty20 internationals for an outstanding 19.26 average, signed a short-term contract as an overseas player for the Standard Bank Pro20 competition in October last year.
It followed the capture of England spinner Monty Panesar for the four-day and one-day game by the Wanderers outfit and Lions coach Dave Nosworthy admitted that the paceman's unavailability is a blow.
He said: "This is a very disappointing situation, as Malinga would have been a great asset in the team and we would have had a "death bowling" specialist to be feared.
"At this stage we also sit with three of our front line bowlers on the injury list in Andre Nel, Craig Alexander and Friedel de Wet - which makes things even tougher.
"However, all these things mean is that someone else gets the opportunity to step up to the plate which excites me."
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