Murali might tour Australia: Sri Lanka board

The Sri Lankan board has indicated that Muttiah Muralitharan might still be part of the squad for the tour to Australia which starts later this month. Speaking to the media on the issue, Duleep Mendis, the chief executive of Sri Lanka Cricket, said: "We are still discussing the issue and no final decision has been taken. I would say it is 50-50 right now, but we are talking."

Mendis's statement might suggest that Muralitharan is veering towards a decision to tour, but sources close to him insist that he is still adamant about not going to Australia.

Murali's bowling action has drawn plenty of comments all over the world, but particularly in Australia. John Howard, their prime minister, added his two-penn'orth to the controversy, saying that Murali's action was illegal. "They proved it in Perth, too, with that [biomechanics video] thing."

Predictably, Murali reacted with disgust at those comments: "[If] the prime minister of the country has accused me like that, why should I go out to that country? It's not right. Normal people can say something and I don't care, but when the prime minister of a nation comes out it is very damaging to my image."

Since then, though, some of the Australian players have sought to limit the damage caused by those statements, inviting Murali to tour. Ricky Ponting was the latest to make the plea: "I'd love to see him here and I'm sure the Australian public would love to see him here as well. He's a fantastic player and opponent and he's a great competitor. He's the current Test record-holder and it'd be nice to have him and Shane Warne playing in the same Test series against each other again. Let's hope he tours."