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| Saturday, 6 March 2004 |
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The race for the 500 Sa'adi Thawfeeq Come Monday and the attention of the cricket world will be focused on the three-Test series between Sri Lanka and Australia which begins at Galle. The series would have gone down as just another one of those that are played all over the world, had it not been for the presence of two of the world's greatest tweakers of the ball in contemporary cricket if not, in the history of the game. Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne and Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will begin their race for the 500th Test wicket mark and then for former West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh's all-time record of 519 Test wickets. Warne starts the series with 491 wickets and Muralitharan with 485 and both great spinners have had their share of controversies that has time and again affected their illustrious careers. Warne is returning to Test cricket after serving a 12-month ban for taking drugs and according to Australia's chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns who saw him in one game he was a "refreshed Shane Warne who had zest and zip in his bowling action and obviously very keen to get back and play for Australia." It was not only drugs that Warne has had his distinguished international career stained with, but for giving lewd telephone calls to a British nurse which cost him the Australian vice-captaincy and having telephone sex with a divorcee. Further, he admitted to taking money from a bookie for passing information on pitch and weather conditions and for allegedly molesting a child who had photographed him smoking when he was promoting people to stay off fags. It was in Sri Lanka that Warne made his mark as an international bowler when he responded superbly to his captain Allan Border's call with a spell of three for nought at the SSC 12 years ago. Sri Lanka 54 runs short of victory at that stage with eight wickets in hand crashed to a sensational 16-run defeat in what represents the greatest revival in Test cricket. Prior to that exceptional bowling performance Warne had taken just a solitary wicket for 335 runs off 90 overs. Now the great spinner at the age of 34 finds himself in Sri Lanka once again for his second coming. Like at the SSC before he is trying to resurrect his international career in what probably will be his last leg before he quits the game for good. Warne's one-year suspension enabled his main rival for the world record, Muralitharan to edge closer to him. When Warne went out of the game temporarily during the 2003 World Cup, Muralitharan had 437 wickets from 78 Tests. But in that 12-month period the off-spinner chalked up an incredible 48 wickets from seven Tests against New Zealand, West Indies and England to come within six wickets of equalling the Australian's tally. With his unique bowling action that has aroused great controversy over the years, Muralitharan became the youngest bowler to achieve 400 Test wickets at the age of 28 and the quickest in only 72 Tests. Averaging five and a half wickets per Test and with age on his side (he is only 31) Muralitharan is the most likely candidate to break Walsh's record sometime during the year and establish a new bowling mark in Test cricket. He is undoubtedly the most successful bowler in the game and the greatest player produced by Sri Lanka. Unlike Warne, Muralitharan has not been in the bad books for behaviour or anything of that nature. What has caused much debate is his loose-limbed open chested bowling action that has led to him being called for throwing twice by Australian umpires. Although his action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council's (ICC) bowling review panel, there is a certain section of the cricketing fraternity who still have reservations about his action. Question marks are raised only when he has a successful series not otherwise, which has led others to believe that this is clearly a move by certain individuals to discredit his outstanding performances. Despite such obstacles it is to the credit of Muralitharan that he has been able to keep such controversies at bay and continue with his career unhindered and without giving the slightest hint that it has at any time affected him overall. The game of cricket needs characters like Warne and Muralitharan without which the game will become a boring spectacle with only the fast bowlers pounding the ball over after over at the batsmen whose first reaction is to avoid getting hurt before thinking of scoring runs. What a contrast the spinners make to the game. Contests between batsmen and spinners have produced many fascinating duels in the game and they can't come any greater than these two personalities who are the top wicket-takers in the game today. Mahanama joins the elite band The appointment of Roshan Mahamana to the ICC's elite panel of match referees is something we should all be proud of. Mahanama joins another former Sri Lankan Test cricketer Ranjan Madugalle in the eight-member panel. The ICC on Thursday announced that it was expanding its elite panel to eight and Mahanama was one of the former international players added to it. Madugalle is already doing a great job as match referee. Following a distinguished career as a player the former Sri Lanka captain made his Test and one-day international debut as referee at Karachi in 1993-94 and since then has come to be regarded as the best in the business. He was appointed ICC chief referee in November 2001 and joined the elite panel in April last year. Madugalle is the most experienced ICC match referee having officiated in over 50 Tests and 135 one-day internationals. There couldn't have been a better gentleman in the game of cricket than Mahanama. Although he had his ups and downs as an international player he still maintained his dignity at all times which speak highly of his upbringing. Any other cricketer who had to undergo the ordeals that Mahanama underwent during his career would have been lost to the game. But not so Mahanama. After he quit the game in disgust at the rather premature age of 33 when most batsmen start to peak in their careers and become hard to dismiss, he concentrated on a career in cricket commentating and soon made his mark on the international arena. The ICC under 19 World Cup in Bangladesh was his first appointment as an ICC match referee and to have been elevated to the highest rank in this field just after one tournament speaks volumes of Mahanama's ability to accept and blend with the challenges that one comes up against. |
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