S Abeyagunawardena: Murali hits the headlines in Australia (3 Sep 1998)

3 September 1998

'Murali' hits the headlines in Australia

Samson Abeyagunawardena

Sri Lanka's remarkable win over England in the Test against England has made headlines in today's Australian newspapers in a way not seen since the World Cup championship final in Lahore in 1996.

Muttiah Muralidaran has been hailed as the "Kandy conjurer", the "Bowler who has the game in a spin" and "Sri Lankan master spinner who has joined world's cricket elite".

While most newspapers carry extensive reports from the wire services and syndicated writers, the Fairfax newspapers which publishes two of Australia's quality newspapers - The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age - publish full page reports from its cricket writer Malcolm Knox who has seen Muralidaran play in Australia and in Sri Lanka.

Knox describes Murali as "the gentle Kandy born Tamil who has broken through ethnic barriers to represent his country in 42 Tests." He adds: Muralidaran has confirmed at the Oval what all his rivals this year could have told us: that he has matured into a superb strike off-spinner, sitting alongside Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq as clearly the best in the game.

"In its historical context, Muralidaran's record is even more imposing.; He now has 203 wickets, 71 of them in his last ten Tests. At the same time in his career, Shane Warne had taken 201 wickets ...

"Yet every time he bowls, Muralidaran resembles a cartoon character with a permanent rain cloud over his head. In 1995-96. Australian umpires Darrell Hair and Ross Emerson no-balled him for straightening his arm during delivery, or chucking. Videotapes of Muralidaran's action were sent to the International Cricket Council and he was subsequently cleared.

"The controversy added to the Sri Lankans' motivation to win the 1996 World Cup, in which Muralidaran played a key part, conceding just 31 runs off his ten overs in the final against Australia...

"Muralidaran's secret is that he has good control and variation and an ability to out-think batsmen. Nothing to do with the kink in his arm. The accusations over Muralidaran's action continue to blow up in the accusers faces."

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)