CricInfo talks to Murali after his narrow failure to take all ten
Hill-country spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan came agonisingly close to recording the best bowling figures ever in Test cricket at the Asgiriya International Stadium on Saturday morning only to be denied all ten when Chaminda Vaas inadvertently
Charlie Austin
05-Jan-2002
Hill-country spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan came agonisingly close to
recording the best bowling figures ever in Test cricket at the Asgiriya
International Stadium on Saturday morning only to be denied all ten when
Chaminda Vaas inadvertently dismissed last batsman Henry Olonga.
Nevertheless, the 29-year-old has not given up hope of breaking Jim Laker's
bowling world record.
Muralitharan, who finished with nine for 51, still the fifth best figures in
124 years of Test cricket, would have surpassed Jim Laker's ten for 53
against Australians in 1956 if Russel Arnold had not fumbled a simple
bat-pad catch off the first ball of the day. Then, fifth ball, Muralitharan
spun an off-break sharply back into the pads of Travis Friend only to see
umpire Venkatraghavan rule in the batsman's favour.
Next over, Vaas ran through the motions, bowling gentle medium pace at
number 11 Olonga. But the dreadlocked tailender couldn't resist a swipe the
left-armers last ball and edged behind to be caught by Kumar Sangakkara.
There was a stifled appeal and a moment of silence - when the Sri Lankan
players wondered whether they could just ignore the final wickets' fall -
before umpire Asoka de Silva was forced to raise his finger.
Muralitharan remained philosophical afterwards: "I am a little bit
disappointed but I am quite pleased with my performance. On another day the
luck would have gone my way and I would have got the tenth wicket - but that
is part of the game."
But he hasn't given up hope of taking all ten. Some other day," he mused.
"It depends on how my bowling goes but getting ten wickets is still
achievable."
He rated his nine for 65 against England at the Oval in 1999 as the better
performance: "The nine wickets that I took there were better than this
because here I had my home support, which always makes it easier, and
England were also a stronger side than Zimbabwe."
Muralitharan may have missed out on ten wickets, a feat only achieved by
Laker (10-53) and Kumble (10-74), but he is the second man to take nine
wickets in an innings twice and in the second innings will have a chance of
eclipsing New Zealand's Richard Hadlee by becoming the first bowler to claim
ten ten-fors. During the day he also cruised pass Ian Botham (383) into
seventh position in the alltime wicket-taking list with 391 victims.
He hopes to pass 400 in the next Test in Galle, if not in the second innings
here, but then expects a tougher fight to get to 500 as Sri Lanka embark on
a difficult schedule overseas.
"I am bowling really well at the moment but it is going to be harder when I
go abroad, as they are clearly not going to prepare me spinning tracks," he
said. "Nevertheless, if I can continue my form, and pick up four or five a
game on the seaming tracks abroad, then I could get to 500 in the not too
distant future."
Sri Lankan captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, disagreed with Muralitharan,
believing his virtuoso performance topped his first nine-wicket haul against
England: "I don't think you can compare it to his nine-wicket haul at the
Oval. This was a more effective effort because he took all his wickets on
the first day of a Test match on a pitch that got flatter and flatter as the
day progressed."
Geoff Marsh, the Zimbabwean coach, refusing to be drawn on whether
Muralitharan was a better bowler than Shane Warne, paid tribute
afterwards: " It was a great performance, particularly so because he did it
in the first innings of a Test match. Every year he plays, he grows in
experience and he is still improving. Whilst we have been here he has been
working on some different balls, but it is accuracy combined with the amount
of turn that he can extract that makes him so special."
Muralitharan had bowled in the morning despite having torn ligaments on the
ring finger of his bowling hand when he had dislocated the same finger the
previous evening whilst diving full length to take a catch off the final
ball of the day.
He had no regrets about going for the catch: "Whenever catches come you have
to take them - I didn't think about the tenth wicket. The guys are always
catching mine and show tremendous courage fielding close to the bat when I
am bowling, so I have to do the same."
According to team physio, Alex Kontouri, Muralitharan may have to travel to
Melbourne after the tour for pre-cautionary surgery on the ligaments. With a
six-week break scheduled after the Zimbabwe series he is not expected to
miss any international cricket if he does.
Pain or not Muralitharan is determined to bowl in the second innings:
"Hopefully, I will be able to bowl in the second innings although I expect
the pain to be the same. It's not going to die down in two or three days.
But even if there is pain, I have to bowl and help get the wickets."