Sri Lanka's greatest spinner determined to settle the score (8 May 1999)

8 May 1999

Sri Lanka's greatest spinner determined to settle the score

Ivan Corea

He is truly one of the world's greatest spinners of all time - now in the top ten of the best bowlers of the world. And yet he has been in the centre of renewed controversy after Ross Emerson called him the Australian umpire in the one-day match against England in Adelaide. Muttiah Muralitharan the unassuming man from Kandy, the hill capital of Sri Lanka has taken it all in his stride.

He is long suffering and has courageously faced the brickbats and the accusations over the 'chucking' allegations. It is amazing that the controversy hasn't really affected his game. He was the star of the 1998 one off Test match against England at the Oval and the Emirates Triangular tournament when Sri Lanka trounced both England and South Africa.

Last year when the Sri Lankan team flew in to London to do battle with England in the one-off Test match the British media welcomed them with only four or five lines of media coverage. It did not matter, the Sri Lankans were going to be a walk over. When they left the dominated the headlines with Murali's name and massive photographs in every newspaper in the UK. You dismiss Sri Lanka at your peril - a star component in what is a limited bowling attack is the great Muttiah Muralitharan.

Off the field, when you talk to Murali you can't help but admire his gentle, soft spoken personality. On the field this wiley spinner brings terror into the hearts of the opposing batsmen.

He has the capacity to bamboozle the great batsmen reducing them to ashes in front of the uncompromising wickets. But the controversy has followed to the ends of the earth. Darrel Hair and Ross Emerson, have called him for chucking. Murali has been filmed from all angles, he has undergone countless scientific tests, he has put himself through rigorous coaching sessions as a result. The mediamen have harassed and hounded him at every corner.

Sri Lankans are convinced that he has faced such harassment only because he is a match winner. Some have queried if Muttiah Muralitharan played for England would he have had any problem.

He will certainly be playing for Lancashire in a few matches after the World Cup and he will have the opportunity to team up with that great coach, the Sri Lanka-born Dave Whatmore who took Sri Lanka to that summit of the World Cup finals when he coached the team.

The International Cricket Council has cleared Murali. The Manager of the World Champions, Duleep Mendis, speaking at the press conference at London Heathrow said he was not concerned about who stands in the game - this was in reference to a question by the media about Darrel Hair participating as an umpire in World Cup matches in the UK.

Hair is one of the umpires who has consistently no-balled Muralitharan in recent years. Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lankan captain said: 'We are not concerned about who stands in our games, we are here to play proper cricket and I hope we can. We cannot select the umpires, we have no influence over that.' the ICC have decided not to select the controversial, Australian umpire Darrel Hair for any of Sri Lanka's World Cup matches.

Darrel Hair has called Muralitharan's action 'diabolical' but there are many more observers - including the great England bowler Fred Titmus who have clearly stated that Murali does not throw. Nevertheless this controversy has caused tremendous heartache to this young man who does not go out to cheat every time he bowls.

I think it is extremely unfair to brand a player in such a way particularly after he has put himself through various tests and in the words of Duleep Mendis, the Sri Lankan Manager, 'the ICC have cleared Murali'.

Sri Lanka's great spinner now adopts an 'I couldn't care less attitude' about the hurtful media coverage, the appalling racist shouts from spectators and the constant harassment.

He goes out there to give his best to the Sri Lankan team and he knows that Arjuna Ranatunga and the entire team to a man support him and back him. When the Sri Lankans thrashed the Australians in a one-day match they said 'We did it for Murali.' That is why victory was so sweet for the Sri Lankans when they defeated the Australians in the Wills World Cup finals in Lahore in 1996.

Muttiah Muralitharan was born in Kandy on the 17th of April in 1972. Murali is the eldest of three boys in a family that owns a successful confectionery business in the hill capital of Kandy; the family are middle class Tamils. Murali's first year at St. Anthony's School ended with a record, playing for the 1st XI he had a wicket haul of 129. Before he left school he added on another 109 wickets - any other schoolboy cricketer in Sri Lanka has never achieved this record.

He is a right-arm off break spinner and a right hand bat; he has a double jointed wrist action - now the most talked about bowling action in the world. According to Dav Whatmore, 'Murali has a physical deformity where he cannot straighten his arm - you can see by the way he throws the ball on the field.' Murali has a deformity in both arms so his elbow cannot be straightened fully - sadly the media and certain sections of the public have persecuted him.

Murali made his Test debut in the Sri Lanka vs Australia match at Colombo in 1992/1994 and his first one-day international appearance was against India in 1993/1994. In Test matches he has taken 203 wickets in 550 matches. As a batsman he has scored 458 runs in 42 Tests. His highest Test score 39 runs. In one-day matches Murali has grabbed 151 wickets in 47 matches. He has also scored 151 runs in 110 matches as a batsman. His highest score is 18 runs.

Muralitharan is a gifted bowler, he is a prodigious spinner of the ball and he is vital in Sri Lanka's bowling attack. it would be a crime if he is forced out of international cricket. True, there are those who would be delighted if they could say farewell to Murali. The man however is made of sterner stuff, he is determined to stay there and let the spin do the talking.

Spin is king on the field and the England players and the Australians know it. They fear him hence the constant barrage of criticism and innuendo, the nod and the wink. But the Sri Lankans have put up a rigorous defence of their star bowler. They will not meekly accept the unfair criticism - that's why Arjuna Ranatunga took his men off for a consultation during that terrible match in Adelaide. He stood by Murali and is prepared to do so again and again. The whole team are prepared to stand up and be counted. They will not accept the harassment. Murali is a star in Sri Lanka, a hero of all Sri Lankans be they Tamils or Sinhalese. It is a true testimony to racial harmony.

Muttiah Muralitharan, once again comes under scrutiny during the 1999 World Cup. Professor Bruce Elliot and Darryl Foster, two Australian academics have come up with a three-dimensional moving graphic of his bowling action by using a series of video clips. They claim that it will end all arguments over its legality. The strange things however is that both Australian academics are tight lipped over these findings - they are going to make a presentation at the first ever World Congress of Science, Medicine and Sports scheduled to be held at Lilleshall in Shropshire from June 14-17.

This conference was timed to coincide with the World Cup. If the Australian academics' findings go against Muralitharan it could cause a stir as the semi-finals take place on 16th June and 17th June and if Sri Lanka are in the semis then the spotlight will once again be turned on Murali - to upset the world champions. Sri Lanka and Muttiah Muralitharan will carry on regardless - Murali's record speaks volumes. Quite apart from the controversy he has his place in history as one of the world's greatest off-spinners.

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