He's an awkward bowler, especially when he gets reverse swing South Africa's Graeme Smith

The excitement did not end there as both Charl Langeveldt, who wafted outside off stump, then Robin Petersen, who played, missed and saw the ball shave leg stump, desperately tried to score the three more runs needed.

After an agonisingly tense period, South Africa had gone from needing four runs, with 32 balls remaining, to searching for three from 11.

When Petersen edged Malinga for four to seal victory his relief was all too evident as he smashed the stumps with his bat in glee.

Malinga said his best ball of the spell was that of Pollock, with a slower ball, but he could not celebrate fully as his side conceded a game they had been favoured to win.

"It was a good opportunity to win the game - we needed only one more wicket," he said afterwards.

"I'm happy to take my first international hat-trick but I feel bad that the team lost the game."

Malinga cleans up South Africa batsman Jacques Kallis

Part of Malinga's threat is that he bowls with a side arm motion that leaves a batsman unsighted until late in his delivery slide and makes the ball skid on at around 90mph

South Africa captain Graeme Smith was full of admiration, saying: "It certainly made me age a bit. He bowled a superb spell.

"He's an awkward bowler, especially when he gets reverse swing and he bowled two good slower balls at batsmen who were new to the crease."

Malinga's skipper Mahela Jayawardene acknowledged his fast bowler is "something special" and said "he can be a big force".

He explained: "I told him we never had a chance to win so he should go and enjoy it, there was no pressure.

"We were thinking they would get it but four wickets in four balls changed all that."

The odds are Malinga will never repeat the feat, but he still has a massive part to play for Sri Lanka in this World Cup.