Journalist cuts Murali for four
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
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Peter Hayter, The Mail On Sunday's cricket correspondent, has done what some top-order batsman can only dream of: cutting Muttiah Muralitharan for four. Better still, he mastered (for want of a better word) the reverse sweep...
As I prepared to face the first ball of the two-over spell Murali's had agreed to bowl to me, the words of Ranjitsinjhi kept ringing around my brain: 'See the ball, go there, hit it.' I thought of Boycott's concentration, of Gooch footwork, of Botham's brawn, Flintoff's power, Lara's high backlift and Tendulkar's mile-wide bat.
And my final thoughts were of the sage words offered by Steve Harmison: 'Strap a pad on each leg and one on your head.'
But suddenly there it was and... Oh My God, I forgot to look at his hand... which way.... which way ? No idea. Get to the pitch - GET TO THE BLOODY PITCH - oh hell ... no option.... lunge and, somehow, to the utter shock of all involved, the ball made its way to the middle of the bat.
Had I had peaked too soon?
Will Luke is assistant editor of ESPNcricinfo