Richards in a spin over Murali and Warne

WORLD CUP: Vivian Richards praised the contribution to world cricket of Muttiah Muralitharan after naming the off-spinner in his team of the World Cup.

Richards, world cricket’s leading batsman during the 1970s and 1980s, said Sri Lanka’s Murali and Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne helped revive the disappearing art of slow bowling after years where teams such as the dominating West Indies side he captained had relied on a four-man pace attack.

“There was a craft that was missing for quite some time and they rekindled the spirit of what spin bowlers can be,” said Richards.

Murali, who has taken 23 wickets already during the tournament, will be aiming to collect his second World Cup winner’s medal to add to the one he won in 1996 when Sri Lanka play double-defending champions Australia in Saturday’s showpiece match at Barbados’s Kensington Oval. Richards added it was hard to compare players from different eras.

Vivian Richards’s team of the World Cup:

Matthew Hayden (AUS), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI, wk), Ricky Ponting (AUS, capt), Kevin Pietersen (ENG), Mahela Jayawardene (SRI), Herschelle Gibbs (RSA), Scott Styris (NZL), Shaun Tait (AUS), Shane Bond (NZL), Glenn McGrath (AUS), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI)

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Friday, AFP