Muralitharan Has Changed Cricket
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Monday 26th July, 2010 15 Cricket’s administra- BY MIKE tors have been right BREARLEY to veer towards want- (Former England Captain) ing to make him hon- est in order to encourage this rich- he Sri Lankan wizard, who has ness. Once upon a ended his career with 800 Test time round-arm bowl- Twickets, has shifted the horizons of what is possible ing was forbidden, Muttiah Muralitharan has revolu- and cricket is a better tionised cricket with his bowling. His doosra deliveries, which he first bowled game for its arrival in Tests in 1997, have become part of the nearly 200 years ago. game’s make-up, along with reverse swing and switch hitting. Though he was But Murali is a more not the first to bowl the doosra – that was complicated case Saqlain Mushtaq of Pakistan two years earlier – Murali, in his freakish way, has than the round-arm made new things possible with the crick- et ball. Along with Shane Warne (708 innovators of the Test wickets) and Anil Kumble (619), he 1820s. also revived spin bowling after decades of dominance by pace bowling. Muttiah Muralitharan In his 18-year Test career, Murali took 40% of the wickets captured by his Sri the leg-break that looks like an off-break. Lanka team. It was neat that he not only He did for off-spin bowling what the set himself that percentage as a final tar- English cricketer Bernard Bosanquet did get – he needed eight of India’s 20 for the Muralitharan has for leg-spin bowling in the early 1900s extraordinary record of 800 Test wickets with the introduction of the googly. in his retirement Test – but got them, Being able to do something remark- albeit at the last possible moment. able is, of course, only the beginning. Murali is also a remarkable human Such an art has to be practised and devel- being. He talks a mile a minute, happy to changed cricket oped. Murali is one of the great workers offer advice to spinners from all over the at his skill. Hard work has, however, world; and he works tirelessly with his – we won’t see his like again been the basis of his success. charities. In the dressing room his Murali would often carry the Sri humility and straightforwardness have accepting. One thing I am convinced of: straightening. Technology also shows ening with hyperextension. Thus some Lanka bowling attack. In the famous Test been a shining example to the rest of the Murali’s bowling has enhanced cricket. that at least part of what looks to the actions that look dubious are not. match at The Oval in 1998, when Sri team. He dealt with his immense success The range of his skills made him a fasci- naked eye like a straightening of the I remember batting in successive Lanka stunningly beat England after the with equanimity.He is, captain Kumar nating bowler to watch and, I imagine, to elbow is in fact a rotation of the elbow, matches in 1965 against Harold Rhodes of latter had lost the toss and scored 445 in Sangakkara tells me, “grounded and sim- bat against. the result of hyperextension. Derbyshire, who had recently been no- their first innings, he bowled 111 overs in ple, with no pretence. He has done more Cricket’s administrators have been None of this proves, of course, that balled by Sid Buller in a match against the match, taking 16 wickets for 220 runs to unite the country in troubled times right to veer towards wanting to make he doesn’t occasionally throw the ball, the South African touring team, and – apart from anything else, a prodigious than any politician.” Murali is a Trustee him honest in order to encourage this intentionally or otherwise, when he is Brian Statham of Lancashire. It was effort of stamina and concentration. of the Foundation of Goodness, which richness. Once upon a time round-arm frustrated or puts in extra effort. Some impossible for me either as batsman or Can one criticise Murali? I would sug- rebuilt Seenigama, a village in the south bowling was forbidden, and cricket is a people believe this of him. spectator to differentiate between their gest tentatively that he would some- east of Sri Lanka that had been better game for its arrival nearly 200 Cricket has made use of technology actions or to know if either or both times go defensive too quickly. Left- destroyed by the tsunami, centring it years ago. But Murali is a more compli- in two ways in order to try to come to a threw. Today’s technology along with handed England batsman Graham around a wonderful facility with med- cated case than the round-arm innova- view of what constitutes a fair action. today’s guidelines would have helped. Thorpe took a calculated risk, hitting ical, dental, educational and training ele- tors of the 1820s. One aim is to underpin commonsense. It Murali began his Test career at the him against the spin over mid-wicket. ments. Murali and the Foundation are Technology has shown that he can turns out that experienced watchers can- age of 20 in 1992. To start with, he was The bowler responded by putting three now embarking on a similar project in spin the ball both ways with his arm in a not in fact discriminate between no primarily an off-spinner who turned the fielders on the leg-side boundary, thus the shattered north of the country. splint. In other words, although he starts straightening of the elbow and roughly ball prodigiously, on pitches where oth- enabling Thorpe to score ones and twos In assessing Murali one cannot avoid with a bent arm he does not need to 15 degrees of straightening. Thus, ers couldn’t do so, and with zip and with freedom. The other is that he was the issue of his action. Australian straighten it at the elbow in order to though the law has not been changed, bounce. He operated rather like Lance often too reluctant to bowl round the umpires called him for throwing in 1995 bowl. His wrist has a congenital “turn” ICC have brought in a modified regula- Gibbs of West Indies; both bowled with wicket. and 1998, and he has been defended by to it, and much of his spin comes from tion in the light of what technology high actions, without drift from leg, and My conclusion is that we should some who have seen this as a racist prej- this unusual anatomy and physiology. shows us; what looks smooth, without from wide on the crease, relying on regard Murali as a genius who has udice. At the same time, Bishen Bedi, the Most of us cannot turn a leg-break jerking or straightening, to the naked eye bounce and spin beyond the normal. shifted the horizons of what is possible. great Indian slow left arm spinner, has that is delivered with the back of the (with bowlers like Glenn McGrath, Jason Both had a stock ball that was pitched Though he has transformed spin bowl- described him as a “shot putter” (he also hand facing the batsman without throw- Gillespie or Harbhajan Singh) often is wide of the off stump. It was always hard ing, we shall not look upon his like described Shoaib Akhtar as a “javelin ing the ball (try it in the street). But not. However, commonsense may also to predict how much the ball would turn. again. thrower”). My own response is more Murali can. His wrist does most of the mislead, in that it can confuse straight- Gradually Murali perfected the doosra, Guardian When the ghosts of Shakespeare & Hitchcock wrote the script BY MAHINDA WIJESINGHE from wherever they were. The first victim (Yuvraj Singh) claimed by wenty-six years and 990 Test Murali came only in the 60th over of matches ago, Australia hosted the Indian innings. Four overs later, TPakistan at the Sydney Cricket Harbajhan Singh succumbed, and grounds. It was the fifth Test of the the scorecard read 197/7 with Lasith 1983-84 series that ended on 6 Malinga breathing fire and brim- January 1984 with the hosts beating stone from the other end. VVS the tourists by the identical margin - Laxman with admirable support as when Sri Lanka beat India at Galle from the tail-enders was holding up a few days ago - of 10 wickets. the Sri Lankans, though, now with The similarities between the two the weather gods relenting, it was Test matches did not end there. going to be a matter of time before Three giants in Australian cricket the inevitable end. Only question retired at the end of that game. They being, will Murali clinch that all- were Dennis Lillee, Ian Chappell and important wicket? All Sri Lankan Rod Marsh. All three of them created supporters, not to mention his team- history in Sydney, just as Murali, in mates, were praying that the man his final Test did at Galle – but there who had done so much for Sri Lanka was a significant difference in which cricket be rewarded. But the stub- the Sri Lankan maestro reached his born Indians resisted for a despair- milestone. ing 51 overs! Were the gods looking Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan picks up his 800th Test wicket with last man askance? It was so frustrating until Look at what the Australians Pragyan Ojha being caught at first slip by Mahela Jayawardene. achieved. Lillee became the first left-hander Ojha nicked one to bowler to go past 350 Test wickets not things looked bleak for the Sri Mahela Jayawardena, and all of Sri only ending with 8 wickets but also Here is the scenario.