Separamadu Lasith Malinga (born August 28, 1983, in Galle, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan cricketer and present vice-captain of their T20 side.^[1]He is a specialist fast bowler with a rare round-arm action, sometimes referred to as a sling action, which leads to his nickname, "Slinga Malinga" and conversely, his bowling style being nicknamed the, "Malinga Slinga," both terms still consistently being associated with him in street cricket and general cricketing society.^[2] He is well known for his ability to take consecutive wickets: he is the first and only bowler in the world to have two World Cup hat-tricks, the first and only bowler to have taken three hat-tricks in ODIs and he is also the first, and currently the only, player to have taken four wickets in four consecutive balls in any form of international cricket.^[3] On 22 April 2011, he announced his retirement from Test cricket.

His ODI and T20 bowling average and economy rate are amongst the best in the game. He is also known for his ability to bowl yorkers and slower bowls to restrict scoring in the later overs of games.