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| Wednesday, 10 March 2004 |
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Murali, Warne race begins by Dr. Ajith C. S. Perera One-day cricket has come to stay with us, but the real talent can be gauged in only five-day Test match cricket. It is the yardstick where you can truly assess and judge the capabilities and the potential of a cricketer. That is what we will now talk and see for the next one month like at least. Contests between batsmen and spinners have produced many fascinating duels in the game and they do not come any greater than two personalities who are not only the World's two greatest spinners at this moment of time but also the top wicket-takers in the game today, Muttiah Muralitharan Sri Lanka's champion spinner and 'the sheik of tweak' Shane Warne from Australia. The two master craftsmen, both truly exceptional bowlers from the same generation, have treated the cricketing world to some wonderful moments and, batsmen to some terrific torment. How these two perform on spinfriendly Sri Lankan pitches at three international match venues, has already generated much more than ordinary interest. This 3-match Test Series may have been considered as just another one of those that are played all over the world, had it not been for this clash between the two 'slow giants'. Two slow-men in the Race Furthermore, these three contests tend to draw far greater attention of the Cricket World, as Murali and Warne will begin their race, at first for that elegant mark of 500th Test Wicket and then to outset former West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh's all-time record of 519 test wickets. Warne at 34 years of age starts with 491 wickets from 107 matches and Murali still at 31 years of age comes in with 485 wickets from only 85 matches averaging 5.5 wickets per Test match and bowling 914 balls less! Warne was 54 wickets ahead before his drug-ban. In the interim 12 month period Warne was away, Muralitharan whittled away the advantage with an incredible 48 wickets in just 13 innings. In fact Muralitharan became the youngest bowler to achieve 400 Test wickets at the age of 28 and also the quickest to do so in only 72 tests. Tables below give vital details of how these two have performed at Test match level in their illustrious careers. They are also compared with that of Courtney Walsh. I have also included information (second line) on how these two spinners have performed to-date (ie. as at 08th March 2004) on Sri Lankan soil. BBI = Their best bowling in a Test Match Inning. Both these great players have had their share of controversies that has time and again affected their illustrious careers. Their rise to the top has never been rosy. Both are survivors and have emerged stronger for their travails. Warne is just coming out of a 12 month suspension from all forms of cricket following the intake of a banned drug before the last year's World Cup in February. His behaviour off the field considered to have brought the game to disrepute, cost him even the Australian vice-captaincy. Unlike Warne, Muralitharan has never been in the bad books for anything of that nature or bad behaviour. It stems from the whispers of discontent over this strange bowling action, sending off breaks or even leg breaks now. It is not his fault, but he has caused more arguments and theories than probably any player of the past because of a super-flexible wrist and a congenital deformity that prevents his bowling arm from straightening fully. Despite the medical opinions and ICC rulings, questions over his action persist and strangely comes-up only when he has a successful series, not otherwise! For example, just as Muralitharan picked up another man-of-the-series award with an incredible 26 wickets in the series against England last December, the cricketing world remembers a report the Australia's national newspaper. "The Australian" carried of the vituperative attack and vilification of this ace bowler headed by a former Indian Spinning Ace, which had nothing at all to do with Muralitharan's cricket and bowling, but about his integrity, honesty and uprightness. All these make others to believe that this is clearly an international scandal by certain individuals and groups to discredit his outstanding performances and damage his morale. The public scrutiny and never ending suspicion would have broken weaker men, but certainly not Muralitharan, any more. A different bowler No series against Sri Lanka can be contemplated without due reference to Muttiah Muralitharan who has that magical gift of bewitching batsmen with the ball and has mesmerised even the world's best on his day. He enjoys records but revels in team success with commitment and devotion. Unlike in the one-day cricket where the Australians combated Muralitharan well when he was permitted only 7 wickets in 5 innings, in Test match cricket with no restrictions on field placements or stricter judgement of wides or any limitation on the number of overs by a bowler, he will certainly be a different kettle of fish. Murali should also be encouraged by his superior wickets: Tests ratio of 5.7 against Warne's 4.6. But what is important here is that the other frontline bowlers must support Murali, in applying pressure with disciplined bowling consistently and also taking wickets at key moments of time. SHANE WARNE: CAREER RECORD: Mat O R W BBI BBM Ave \Econ S/R 107 4979.3 12624 491 8/71 2/128 25.71 2.53 60.8 Performance in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka: 6 149.2 461 22 7/94 11/188 20.95 3.08 40.7 MURALITHARAN: CAREER RECORD: 85 4827.5 11130 485 9/51 16/220 22.94 2.30 59.7 Performance in Sri Lanka against Australia: 08 214.1 574 19 4/63 - 30.21 2.68 67.6 Performance in Sri Lanka against All teams: 49 2874.1 6235 309 9/51 13/115 20.17 2.16 55.8 COURTNEY WALSH: CAREER as at 8th/March 2004. 132 5003.1 12688 519 7/37 13/55 24.44 2.53 57.8
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