Muralitharan fit, but long-term doubts remain

Sri Lanka are now confident that their magical spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, will be fit to bowl in the forthcoming First Test Match in Galle after suffering no adverse reaction in Monday's practice at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

Nevertheless, the team physio, Alex Kontouri, is concerned that the injury, sustained on the tour of New Zealand highlights the first sign of wear and tear on Muralitharan, who bowls 31% of Sri Lanka's overs in Test Match cricket averages over 50 overs per Test Match.

Speaking after the practice session in Colombo, Kontouri said: "Today is only the second day that he bowled. He bowled about 50 percent on Sunday, and today he bowled about 70 percent. He bowled two or three balls at his maximum pace and he felt comfortable. So that's a good sign.

"Tomorrow he can bowl a bit faster, closer to 100% of his normal effort and then he will be more comfortable that he can play. But I am still comfortable that he is going be okay to bowl and play," he said.

Whilst Muralitharan may be fit to bowl, Kontouri is concerned about the possibility of aggravating the injury whilst fielding: "The only concern we have is that their could be the risk like he might slip or he might take off quickly to field the ball"

Having sustained the groin injury Muralitharan was treated with ice during the first few days. He then started light exercises before going into the swimming pool to strengthen up the muscle. He started to run on Sunday.

Kontouri admitted though that in normal circumstances he would have preferred to have longer to treat the injury: "When he got injured we knew that we had about nine or 10 days to get him right. If we had three weeks the treatment would have been different. It would have been a bit slower and given him a chance to settle down."

He is concerned that the injury points to long-term problems that need to be addressed: "Apart from the muscle injury there is something going on as well. There is a little joint in his groin that has become damaged due to overuse and that is what we are investigating. There is a little bit of weakness around his pelvis. If we can correct that hopefully, he should be alright."

Muralitharan is an ardent fan of practice and often bowls in his Tamil Union Club nets after national practice sessions. However, Kontouri feels that the time may have come to reduce his workload in order to safeguard his future: "Perhaps we might have to look at his future and consider taking the load off him at practice so that he can give back his best during matches.

"He is a dynamic character. He puts everything in the field and sometimes his body gives way. It is something that we are trying to fix. You have to investigate further and do a lot of strength work to try and prevent it. It might not have any impact on this match, but we are looking at the future," said Kontouri.