Cricket: Malinga visitors' mystery weapon

An ankle injury has forced Lasith Malinga out of the current series. Photo / Getty Images

Regardless of how convincing New Zealand are in the final three one-day internationals of the series against Sri Lanka, one lingering doubt can't be extinguished before they meet again in the World Cup opener on February 14 in Christchurch.

How much impact can Lasith Malinga generate?

Malinga is a player with a penchant for slinging his unique brand of deliveries down against New Zealand but he will miss the current series.

In 177 ODIs he has taken 271 wickets at 27.21; in 21 matches against New Zealand that average drops to 29 wickets at 23.89.

The 31-year-old has been selected in Sri Lanka's World Cup squad "subject to fitness". He had surgery on his left ankle in September and missed subsequent ODIs against India and England.

Coach Marvan Atapattu said his strike bowler's rehabilitation is under regular scrutiny.

"He's been monitored closely by team doctors here and in Australia. He's working to a programme. If all goes well he should be ready for the [practice] match against the South Africans on February 9.

"We were hoping to get him ready for the ODI on January 29 in Wellington but there was some stiffness in his ankle and he had to go to Australia to get it attended to. That set us back about four to five days."

If there's a criticism of the No 4 ranked Sri Lankan side it is that they lack pace bowling venom. An example came in Nelson when Luke Ronchi hit Thisara Perera for 24 in the 48th over and all but sealed the match after Sri Lanka had battled into a strong position. The low angle from which Malinga skids the ball on makes him difficult to get away under pressure.

"He's the best bowler when it comes to the death overs," Atapattu said. "His availability would make a huge change not only to how we perform, but how we think."

Along similar lines to "performing" and "thinking" is how the Sri Lankans deal with New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum's batting today during the fifth ODI in Dunedin. One tactic has been to get wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to move up to the stumps with the medium-pacers to discourage McCullum from advancing down the pitch.

Atapattu said they can't get flustered.

"Our bowlers have come up with a few plans we want to try, but Brendon has batted well from the test series onwards. When you hit a purple patch like that, everything seems to work."

Atapattu said Dinesh Chandimal was likely to get an opportunity to showcase his batting today, in one change to the Sri Lankan XI.