Murali should have kept his cool

Muttiah Muralitheran,who has not been enjoying his tour, what with Aussie spectators teasing him with shouts of 'no ball' or 'chucker' when he comes on to bowl, because of his controversial action has once again been cleared.

But what was intriguing is that he volunteered to secretly undergo a test at the University of Western Australia and was cleared by UWA Professor Bruce Elliot. But the question is: why did he have to do it in secret? When talk was doing the rounds here, because of his controversial action when bowling the doosra was gathering momentum, I asked manager Michael Tissera for his views and comments.

Tissera did not want to commit, but said that they are not unduly worried because the umpires or the match referee had not reported the bowler.

While all that is well and good, then why did Muralitheran rush for secret testing? Was he scared that if the umpires and the match referee reported him, the International Cricket Conference would have gone hard at him? Muralitheran has sought out Elliot for the fourth time to have him cleared.

Now that he has been cleared, Muralitheran is pleading with the crowd to stop calling him names. We hope the crowd would be kinder next time round. With the crowd taunting him, it was sad the way Muralitheran reacted and played the 'one finger symphony' at the crowd.

At this level he should have kept his cool and got on with what he is here to do and that is to bowl. He should not have reacted the way he did. It was in bad taste and earned the wrath of the Sri Lankans who are domiciled here and everyone else.

Muralitheran should count his lucky stars for getting off with only an 'unofficial reprimand'. Muralitheran should learn and told to behave himself and he who became a father recently should remember that kids would have been watching him and he should be an example.

Cricket in C'wealth Games

Cricket has received an endorsement to make a comeback as a Commonwealth Games event, with the Indian Olympic Association keen to have it played in New Delhi in 2010. A 20/Twenty tournament has been mooted, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India favours a competition with 50-over ratings.

Ricky Ponting the Australian captain is a silver medalist from cricket's sole appearance at a Commonwealth Games appearance in the Kuala Lumpur Games in 1998 said he would like to mingle among athletes in a Games Village. South Africa's coach Mickey Arthur supports the idea. Sixteen countries played in the Games in 1998 with South Africa beating Australia in the final.