Archives

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

GALLE, Friday - Sri Lanka's master spinner Muttiah Muralitharan on the eve of becoming the youngest and the quickest bowler in Test history to achieve the landmark of 400 wickets, said that it was not something that he had been thinking about too much.

"There is no guarantee in this game, but hopefully, I can get there if I bowl well," said Muralitharan shortly after practice at the Galle International Stadium here today. "It is definitely a landmark that I want to pass as I really want to take 500 Test wickets. Being just 29, I have plenty of time to taken them," he said. If Muralitharan gets there he will become the seventh bowler in Test history to achieve the landmark.

He is well within reach of beating West Indian Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets.

New Zealand fast bowler Sir Richard Hadlee, the first bowler to take 400 wickets in Test cricket played 80 Tests to reach that target. It has remained the quickest todate. He was the oldest to do so being 38 years.

Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, a contemporary of Muralitharan for the best spinner in the world, was the youngest to cross the 400-wicket mark.

He was aged 31 when he achieved it against England at the Oval last August.

However Warne, the only spinner in a fast bowler dominated list of six, took 92 Tests to cross the mark.

The other bowlers in the 400-club are India's Kapil Dev (who was 33 years and took 115 Tests to pass the 400-wicket mark), West Indians Courtney Walsh (36 years, 107 Tests) and Curtley Ambrose (36 years, 97 Tests), and Pakistan's Wasim Akram (34 years, 96 Tests). Muralitharan couldn't have asked for a better venue than at Galle, where he has spun Sri Lanka five wins out of the seven Tests played there.

The last occasion he did that was against West Indies last November when he took 11 wickets to subject them to a ten-wicket defeat. In the process he also took his 50th Test wicket at this venue in seven Tests.

That Galle is one of Muralitharan's favourite hunting grounds there is no doubt. "This wicket will suit the spinners more than the fast bowlers but for the first couple of days it should be pretty flat," said Muralitharan on the pitch prepared for tomorrow's Test against Zimbabwe.

Muralitharan is still nursing a swollen bowling finger, but he said that it did not interfere with his bowling. "You have to play with pain sometimes," he said.

With 395 wickets in the bag, Muralitharan rated his performance of taking 16 for 220 in England as his best.

"It is difficult to get wickets in England as a spinner and they had been doing well having just beaten South Africa," said Muralitharan.

He rated Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar as the hardest batsmen to bowl to.

" Lara has caused me the most trouble. He is a wonderful player. He can play all the shots. Most players are restricted in some way and as a bowler you can focus on the weak points. But Lara can do anything - cut, late cut, drive, sweep and the lofted drive. When you are playing a good bowler you have to be patient and pick the right ball to hit. Brian does that well. We had a really good battle. I won it twice but most of the time he was the winner," said Muralitharan.

"I have only bowled to Sachin on a few occasions but he is also positive and difficult to bowl to. He is very patient and can play spin. But he is a right-hander and I have an advantage with them," he said.

"I have been working hard against left-handers. Part of the problem is that I am turning the ball so much and find it difficult to get lbw's," he said.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager