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Superman Muttiah takes Warne’s record
Rarely has a sportsman beaten a world record to cries of “freakish genius” or “it’s his defect that’s his secret”. But that was the talk in the early hours today when the Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan overtook Australia’s Shane Warne to become cricket’s leading Test wicket-taker. Playing in front of his home crowd in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in the first of a series of Test matches against England, Muralitharan was four behind Warne’s record tally of 708 Test wickets at the start of the match. When Muralitharan took his fifth wicket – bowling England’s Paul Collingwood – and broke the record, the crowd went wild, setting off firecrackers to mark the historic moment. Family and friends applauded from the stands.
What makes the man “a freakish genius” in the eyes of cricket commentators is that a defect in his elbow from birth means he cannot straighten his arm. In another sport this might have been a drawback, but in cricket it has allowed him – controversially – to break the rule that bowlers must bowl with a straight arm to avoid accusations of throwing the ball.
A second physical abnormality is that he is double-jointed in the wrist, enabling him to rotate his wrist 360 degrees. When he bowls, the back of his hand faces the batsman which means he can disguise which way he’s going to spin the ball.
Muralitharan, 35, had hoped to reach the record on a recent tour of Australia but it wasn’t his finest hour, with figures of 4-400 over two Tests.
“It’s a bigger moment than if I had taken it in Australia,” he said this morning in Kandy. “It’s my hometown, my parents are here, my wife is here… all the relatives are here and all my schoolfriends.”
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Murali the greatest
Muttiah Muralitharan broke Shane Warne’s world record tally of 708 wickets as Sri Lanka sent England crashing in the first cricket Test. Muralitharan, who went into the match needing five wickets to become Test cricket’s most successful bowler. 
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Wicket! Collingwood b Muralitharan 45
He’s done it! Murali bowls Collingwood through the gate to become the all-time leading Test wicket-taker by. On cue, fans let off fire crackers, hit drums and rise to their feet to applaud the achievement.
via Topix Sri Lanka
Spin legend Warne has called authorities to test Murali
Test Murali in a test says Warne also mocks Sri Lankans as “too timid” and a “team without a plan” Retired spin legend Shane Warne has called on the authorities to test Murali in match conditions and not in a laboratory, to see if his action is legitimate, but has conceded that it would be a traumatic experience to the Sri Lankan spinner who has been in and out of numerous tests in the past.
Referring to a statement made by his coach Terry Jenner, Warne has written “Speaking of Murali, I agree with Terry Jenner that he should be tested under match conditions. I’m sure he is sick of it all, but it would be well worth the exercise and hassle.” In a column he writes to News Limited publications.
“I think for his own peace of mind and everyone in world cricket, do the testing in the heat of battle — a Test match. Surely the ICC, Sri Lanka and Murali would want that.” Warne added.
The all-time highest wicket taker has also advised Sri Lankans not to worry too much about spectator behaviour, as he felt the team has much important issues to focus on about their performance.
“As for the crowds, I am sick of hearing that the Sri Lankans get a hard time from our crowds. Australian crowds support the home team and acknowledge the opposition if they deserve it, just the same as anywhere else. Get over it, Sri Lanka. They would be better off focusing on their on-field troubles than worrying about comments coming over the fence.” Warne has stated.
Warne also mocked the Sri Lankans for their pathetic show and for relying too heavily on older players. “Certainly nothing grabbed our attention about the Sri Lankans from the Gabba Test – other than that Kermit and Gonzo select the team, according to ex-captain Marvan Attapatu, and that the Lankans rely on Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali and captain Mahela Jayawardene, along with Kumar Sangakara, who will play in the second Test.” He wrote.
Without mincing his words, Warne had hit the nail on the head, calling the Lankans too timid. “Sri Lanka looks like a team without a plan. While the tourists fought a bit in the first Test, they never showed any intent to score or take it to the Baggy Greens. They were too timid and let the Aussies dictate terms.” He wrote.
“To win the toss and bowl is fine if you have the firepower to exploit the conditions and the opposition. But to not pick their best pace wicket-taker, Lasith Malinga, was strange and smelled of the side being scared to take a chance. Get in and bat and let Muthiah Muralidaran, the whirly-twirly man, bowl last. Play to your strengths.” He advised the Sri Lankans.
Shane Warne ready to lose record
SHANE Warne said he will have no regrets when rival spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan overtakes him at the top of the charts.
Murali is currently on Sri Lanka’s tour of Australia and is just nine short of breaking Warne’s record 708 Test wickets.
“Good luck to Murali, the record doesn’t really worry me,” Warne said.
“It has been nice to hold the record for three or four years. I always played my style of cricket and the wickets were nice, but it is more about the spirit in which you play the game.
“I’d like to think I have been an entertainer in the 16 years or so I’ve been playing. I hope my legacy is that I’ve never given up, have always been competitive, and that people have enjoyed that. So the record is not the most important thing.”
“But hopefully the Aussie batsmen can still make it a little bit hard for him,” Warne said.
Murali, 35, and Warne, 38, both started their Test careers in 1992, but the Sri Lankan has only played in 113 matches, compared with the Australian’s 145.
In a coup for the Hong Kong Sixes, both the third and fourth all-time Test wicket-takers are also playing in the tournament – Anil Kumble (566) and Glenn McGrath (563).
Warne declined to respond to rumours he will play in either of the two rival money-spinning Twenty20 leagues being planned in India, but said more Sixes cricket would help promote the sport.
“It would be really good if we had a couple more weekends like this one,” he said. “A Sixes event in a place like Dubai would be great to spread the word of cricket.”
The tournament, first held in 1992, produces frenetic cricket in which teams bat for only five overs each innings and every fielder has to bowl, apart from the wicketkeeper. It has a strong record of attracting the game’s biggest names, with Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Flintoff all appearing in past years.
LG ICC Test Player Rankings Murali and Sanga making history
The spin genius is just fourth bowler ever to reach 920 points while the left hander becomes first Sri Lankan batsman to pass the 900 mark
Two of Sri Lanka’s best players of all time have made history on the LG ICC Test Player Rankings following their team’s 3-0 series win over Bangladesh last week.
Muttiah Muralidaran has become only the fourth Test bowler in history to reach 920 rating points and is the highest rated bowler for 24 years. He is now just two rating points behind Pakistan great Imran Khan and is fast catching up on England’s Sydney Barnes and George Lohmann, who are first and second, respectively, in the all-time Test bowlers’ list.
Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara is stamping his own mark on history as he enjoys a fine run of recent form that continued in two double hundreds during the series with Bangladesh.
Sangakkara becomes the first Sri Lankan batsman to pass the magic 900 rating points mark and he has moved up to 22nd in the all-time list for Test batsmen. He remains third in the current LG ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen but is continuing to close the gap on the two players currently ahead of him, Mohammad Yousuf and Ricky Ponting.
The 29-year-old became just the sixth player in history to score double hundreds in successive Tests when he put the Bangladeshi bowlers to the sword last week in Kandy.
This feat was first achieved by Walter Hammond against Australia in 1928/29 and since then has been matched by Don Bradman (who managed it three times against England in 1930, 1934 and 1936/7), India’s Vinod Kambli (against England and Zimbabwe 1992/23), Graeme Smith of South Africa (against England in 2003) and Australia captain Ricky Ponting (against India in 2003/04). Australia legend Bradman has scored the most double hundreds in Tests – 12 – but there are only two other players ahead of Sangakkara’s tally of six – Brian Lara (West Indies, nine) and Hammond (England, seven). Sangakkara is now level with fellow countryman Marvan Atapattu and Pakistan’s Javed Miandad.
He has now moved ahead of India captain Rahul Dravid who has five scores of 200 or more in Tests.
Incidentally, Sangakkara’s Test double hundreds have come against four different opponents – Pakistan, Zimbabwe, South Africa (twice) and Bangladesh (twice) – with four made in home matches (two at the Sinhalese Sports Club, both against South Africa, the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium in the second Test against Bangladesh and now at Kandy).
His other two double tons were compiled in Lahore (against Pakistan) and Bulawayo (versus Zimbabwe).
There was very little movement in the latest rankings with Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena going up another place to 12th position, following his 165 in Kandy, his 18th Test hundred, overtaking Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq in the process.
In the LG ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Muralidaran has stretched his lead from South Africa’s Makhaya Ntini in second position with Anil Kumble of India and another Protea, Shaun Pollock, back in joint-third place.
Meanwhile, the annual update of the LG ICC Test Championship has seen Australia stretch its lead at the top and it now stands 26 rating points clear of second-placed England.
Sri Lanka is another eight points further back having moved up two places to third position and South Africa is also up two places from sixth spot to fourth. Pakistan is the big loser after the update having dropped three places from third to sixth.
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Bangladesh crash for 131 as Muralitharan takes 6-28
Muttiah Muralitharan closing towards magical 700 test wicket mark as Sri Lanka skittled Bangladesh for a meager 131 runs in the first innings of the third cricket test on Thursday.
Resuming from the overnight score of 72 for four, Bangladesh lost their next six wickets in the space of 90 minutes in another rain-affected session. Muralitharan’s six-wicket haul took him 100 test wickets in Kandy, his hometown. Left-arm seamer Sujeeva de Silva broke a promising stand of 34 runs between Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful and Tushar Imran on Thursday morning, with Tushar edging a ball to second slip. Next to go was Ashraful, knicking a de Silva delivery through to the keeper, out for 26.
Sri Lanka then brought Muralitharan on to clean up the tail. The ace spinner obliged in quick time, taking the final four wickets to move his test wicket tally to 694.
Bangladesh’s 131 was only a marginal improvement on its first innings efforts in the previous two tests of the series, when they were skittled for 89 and 62.
A heavy shower soon after the Bangladeshi innings forced players to take early lunch and delayed the start of Sri Lankan inning.
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Sri Lanka Cricketers Reception at President’s House
The politicos were up to it again. They flocked to where the cricketers were in droves, this time at President’s House on Tuesday evening where President Mahinda Rajapaksa hosted the team for a felicitation after the World Cup.
Some of the politicians were attired in casual wear that even the players were unsure of the people who came up to chat with them.
Pix: Sudath Silva – via Pat and Mangala LA
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The moment the cricketing world has been waiting for has dawned
Incidentally this is a repeat of the 1996 final when these two teams met in Lahore and the Lankans carried away the trophy.
Will history repeat itself? Well your guess is good as mine.
What happened in Lahore is now just a memory and what matters is how the teams will play today.
Man to man there is little to choose between the two teams.
And the team that will climb the podium and hold aloft the trophy for the cricketing world to see, would be the team that is not overawed by the occasion, riding the pressure and playing the better cricket.
Here, not only in the other Caribbean Islands, they all want Sri Lanka to win the final. The Aussies are anathema to them.
Firstly to the wicket and viewing it from the Crozier Stand where the media box is housed, it looks devoid of grass and seems to be a good one to bat.
The side aiming for 250 and over should hold the advantage.
‘As for the Lankans every member of the team is fit and well and available for selection.
We have still not decided on the playing eleven’, said manager Michael Tissera.
The Sri Lankans cotton wooled Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitheran when they last played the Aussies hoping to unleash them against the opponents today.
However Muralitharan is the one the Aussies batsmen fear most. His ‘doosra’ – the one that goes the other way – spits venom at the batsmen and it is instant death to those who cannot read the delivery.
However the Australian supporters who are here in their numbers are sure to try and unsettle him by chanting ‘chuncker’, ‘chucker’ or ‘No ball’ even time he begins bowling.
That’s how cowardly the Aussies are. But Muralitharan is made of different stuff and the shouts should inspire him.
When the Lankans bat, it is paramount that Sanath Jayasuriya gets back into run making. He has the temperament for the big occasion and there is no doubt that the Aussies would be targeting him, for if they allow him to cut loose, then they will have to chase a lot of leather.
Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, skipper Mahela Jayawardena, Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold and Chaminda Vaas are all capable of making runs and must do it.
In Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitheran and Chaminda Vaas are three match winning bowlers, with Jayasuriya and Dilshan for support.
The Lankans will target opener Matthew Hayden who is enjoying a harvest of runs with three centuries already in the bank, and skipper Ricky Ponting.
The Lankans know that if they can get these two early, then they can run through the rest of the Kangaroos batting.
Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait and Glen McGrath have all proved how good they are. If the early Lankan batsmen don’t gift them wickets, they could be frustrated.
The sides have some of the best fielders in the world and this aspect could play a big role if a team is to win.
Aussies are a bit jittery, knowing that they have still not had a bad day so far. And all Sri Lankans and their supporters are confident that today will be the day.
Kensington Oval, Barbados, Friday Courtesy:Daily News
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