People tend to appreciate the more obvious aspects of Lasith "the Slinga" Malinga - his unorthodox but very effective bowling action and his colourful character; but there is also a less obvious asset in the man which I believe will be a good example to upcoming cricketers - his ability to strike the right balance between aggression and sportsmanship.

Malinga obviously enjoys what he does so well but unlike some of his predecessors, does not exhibit any of the cheap cockiness that unfortunately used to very much part of Sri Lankan cricket in the bad old days of Ranatunga but has largely disappeared thanks to Jayawardene (and probably to Hashan Tillakaratne before him) and Moody. Watching the now famous "4-in-4" clip and other footage from this championship, I was impressed how Malinga - still only a young man at 23 - never went overboard with his celebrations. Watching him again last night in the semi-final, he made no attempt to sledge or mock Ross Taylor when the latter was struggling to get a sight of Malinga's sliders zipping past his bat; in fact the Sri Lankan lightened the atmosphere by an almost apolegetic smile, which was reciprocated by the batsman. Such byplays are good to watch - far better than some of the more heated imteractions that sometimes mar the modern game.