Muralitharan to skip Australia mentoring stint

Muttiah Muralitharan has pulled out of the proposed stint with the Brisbane-based Centre of Excellence in May, due to commitments with his IPL and English county teams. Muralitharan was approached in early February to mentor young spinners at the Centre of Excellence for two weeks this summer.

"Cricket Australia wanted him to come down for a particular period of time but it doesn't go down well with the IPL [he has been contracted by the Kochi franchise this season] and Gloucestershire assignments," Muralitharan's agent Kashil Gunasekera told Sydney's Daily Telegraph. "They [Cricket Australia] wanted him to come at the end of May.

"They were trying to figure out another time, but it just couldn't be finalised. The IPL starts on April 7 and goes until the end of May and by June 1 he has to go to Gloucestershire."

Muralitharan, who will be retiring from international cricket after the World Cup, has had strained relationship with Australia. In 1995 he was repeatedly no-balled for a suspect action by Australian umpire Darrell Hair and booed by spectators, subsequently pulling out of Sri Lanka's tour to Australia in 2004. Gunasekera, however, said the decision had nothing to do with this.

If Muralitharan had consented to the stint, it could have provided a leg up for Australia, who are yet to identify a permanent replacement for Shane Warne, who retired in 2007.