MURALI_PROFILE_22SEP1995

Friday 22, September 1995

`Murali` spinning towards the century mark

by SA`ADI THAWFEEQ

It took Sri Lanka 13 years and 62 Tests to produce a spinner as its leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.

This achievement took place during the final day of the second cricket Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at Faisalabad, when offspinner Muthiah Muralidharan dismissed Pakistan`s ace batsman Inzamamul-Haq for 26 in the final over before lunch.

Haq`s wicket was the one that Sri Lanka badly needed as they pressed for victory and Muralidharan provided them with it when he held a fine catch, running back off his own bowling. The jig Muralidharan displayed soon after this success could have been two-fold - for providing Sri Lanka with the all-important breakthrough and for becoming the highest wicket-taker for his country.

Haq`s wicket was Muralidharan`s 74th in Test cricket and it enabled him to take the record from Rumesh Ratnayake who had been the country`s leading wicket-taker since he overhauled another fast-medium bowler Ashantha de Mel at Hamilton against New Zealand in 1991. DE MEL - 4 YEAR RECORD

De Mel, Sri Lanka`s pioneer fast bowler in Test cricket having spearheaded the bowling attack in the inaugural Test against England at the Saravanamuttu Stadium in February 1982, had a haul of 59 wickets from 17 Tests - a record which stood for four years until Ratnayake came along.

For a country, which depends on spin at its primary weapon for success, it has been the fast-medium bowlers who had been in the limelight, until the advent of Muralidharan.

Sri Lanka`s maiden Test victory was achieved through the quick bowlers with Ratnayake playing the stellar role by taking a match bag of nine wickets against India at the Saravanamuttu Stadium in 1985. His 20 wickets in the series (avg. 22.95) in three Tests is yet to be bettered.

Six months later, Sri Lanka`s second Test win was also achieved through fast-medium pace when Ravi Ratnayeke - the third in a triumvirate of fast-medium bowlers to take over 50 Test wickets for Sri Lanka - bowled the country to victory over Pakistan at the CCC grounds taking 5 for 37 (seven in the match).

Following the rapidity with which these victories were achieved, Sri Lanka had a long wait for their next success. It took them six years,five of them rather dark ones when no international cricket could be staged at home because of the ethnic strife, before they were to hit the winning trail again. COMPOSITION CHANGED

By then, the composition of the Sri Lankan bowling attack had changed from the over-reliance on fast-medium bowling to spin, primarily with the introduction to international cricket of Muralidharan who made his Test debut against Allan Border`s Australians at the Khettarama Stadium (now R. Premadasa Stadium) in August 1992.

Before he broke into the international scene, Muralidharan had shown that he had the potential to make it to the Sri Lanka side with some outstanding bowling performances for St. Anthony`s College, Katugastota, which included a century of wickets in consecutive seasons.

Former Australian Test off-spinner Bruce Yardley on a coaching assignment in Sri Lanka in early 1991, picked Muralidharan as the best of the 20 spinners he undertook to coach.

This is what Yardley said of Muralidharan at the time: "He is a very unorthodox off-spinner. Sometimes it is useful to be unorthodox. (Yardley himself was an unorthodox spinner.) Anyone who takes over a hundred wickets in two consecutive seasons has got to be something special. I have impressed on him that he could not only bowl on big turning piches, but also on flat pitches``. THICK OF THE ACTION

It was not before long, after making his Test debut at the age of 20 that Muralidharan was in the thick of the action. In only this third Test, he bowled Sri Lanka to victory over New Zea- land in December 1992 by taking a match bag of seven wickets at the SSC.

Two months later at the same venue, and playing only in his fourth Test, he took a further five wickets in the one-off Test to humiliate England. It was during this Test that doubts of Muralidharan`s bowling action initially began to surface. The Fleet Street scribes commonly known for trotting out excuses for their country`s defeats picked on young Muralidharan as their target.

Since then, whenever he has been amongst the wickets, Muralidharan`s excellent bowling performances have always been overshadowed by the allegations made against his bowling action. The last accusation came from Ken Rutherford, the former New Zealand captain after his team were comprehensively beaten by 241 runs at Napier in the Test played in March this year. Muralidharan took five wickets for 64 to record his career best figures. MURALI - WORLD`S BEST

Muralidharan however has been well shielded from uncharitable criticism by his captain who has not missed out on the opportunity to hit out at the critics who try to upset his champion bowler.

At 23 years he is well on course to become Sri Lanka`s first bowler to capture a century of wickets. Looking at the present composition of spinners in other Test line-ups, Muralidharan could arguably qualify to be the best off-spinner in the world.

Leading wicket-takers for Sri Lanka in Test cricket (Tabulated under Wkts, Avg, Tests)

M. Muralidharan 74 30.70 20

R.J. Ratnayake 73 35.10 23

A.L.F. de Mel 59 36.94 17

J.R. Ratnayeke 56 35.21 22

(All figures complete till September 20)