Wisden honours Arjuna and 'Murali'
Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga and ace off spinner Muttiah
Muralitharan have been named as two of the five Wisden Cricketers of
the Year.
The coveted title, picked by Wisden - tagged as the cricket's Bible,
is based on the cricketers' influence on English cricket each season.
England's Yorkshire star Darren Gough, South African Jonty Rhodes
better known for his world class fielding, and Lancashire all-rounder
and England's World Cup poolist Ian Austin are the other three
cricketers honoured in the list.
Ranatunga captained Sri Lanka to two convincing wins over England in
the One-Off Test at the Oval and in the Emirates Cup Triangular final
at Lord's last summer.
Muralithran had English batsmen all at sea when he finished with a
record match bag of 16 wickets at the Oval Test. He has been picked
as Lancashire's international player for the 1999 English county
season.
Both Muralitharan and Ranatunga have played a key role in Sri Lanka's
success since the island nation won the World Cup tournament beating
Australia by seven wickets in the final played in Lahore 1996.
Left-hander Ranatunga, the longest serving Test cricketer and the
most experienced at present, has scored over 4,500 runs in Tests with
four centuries and around 7,000 runs in one day internationals. He is
the only surviving member of Sri Lanka team which lost to England by
seven wickets in the inaugural Test played at Sara Stadium. Ranatunga
scored a half century on debut, thus becoming the first Sri Lankan to
score a Test fifty. Ranatunga holds the world record of leading a
country in most number of one day internationals - 188, beating
Australian Border (174). Of the 110 one day international wins
registered by Sri Lanka, 87 have been under Ranatunga's able
leadership.
Muralithran, who has captured 203 Test wickets, will become only the
second Sri Lankan Test cricketer to play English country's cricket
after his vice captain Aravinda de Silva who had a highly successful
season for Kent a few years back.
Having missed the Asian Test Championship and the Pepsi Cup
triangular in India after undergoing an operation in Australia, the
star off break bowler will return to the Sri Lankan side when they
defend the World Cup in England from May 14.
Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)