Sri Lankan PM to seek diplomatic support

Sri Lanka's prime minister has said that he will seek diplomatic support from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to oppose the ICC's decision to ban Muttiah Muralitharan's doosra. Earlier, Mahinda Rajapakse had said that Muralitharan was a national figure who needed his country's support, and that he would do whatever he could to defend him.

According to a report by Associated Press, Rajapakse said, "I plan to meet with the ambassadors of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to get their support," and added that he would meet lawyers about the possibility of legally challenging the ICC.

The prime minister's comments are bound to cause another headache for the ICC, which is currently grappling with the touchy issue of playing in Zimbabwe. After banning Murali's doosra, and threatening to ban him if he bowled it again, the ICC has come under fire for its handling of the issue. While a section of experts have claimed that the ICC's rules on throwing are too stringent and not viable, others have said that Muralitharan's regular action is faulty, and he should have been banned anyway.

John Howard, Australia's prime minister, was the most high-profile of the critics, and it is widely believed that his opinion that Muralitharan chucked led to the bowler pulling out of Sri Lanka's tour of Australia. The move has put Sri Lankan officials on the spot, and Marvan Atapattu was forthright in his comments about a difficult task being made even harder with Muralitharan's absence.

"If Murali decides he is not going to Australia," Atapattu said, "it will be one heck of a challenge for us. It will be a big struggle trying to contain the strong Australian batting line up without him."