The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sri Lankans arrives in Australia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 21, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Sri Lankans arrives in Australia

DARWIN, JUNE 20 . Sri Lanka's cricketers today said they will dedicate the two-Test series against Australia to teammate Muttiah Muralitharan, who pulled out of the tour for personal reasons.

Sri Lanka arrived in Darwin today with captain Marvan Atapattu confident the rest of his players will lift their games to make up for the man who usually takes half of the opposition wickets.

``I'd love to have him here but he's made a personal decision and we have to wear it,'' Atapattu said on his arrival. ``But it is going to be hard to take 20 wickets without him.''

The first Test begins on July 1 in Darwin and the second on July 9 in Cairns.

Atapattu said Muralitharan would be difficult to replace.

``Playing without him is difficult and unusual. The whole team will miss him,'' said Atapattu.

``But it is a big challenge for every one of us to come out with better performances. This is one occasion where we can show gratitude towards him by performing well.''

While Muralitharan has cited personal reasons for his decision to stay at home, he has also been upset by what he sees as continued attacks on his character by Australians, including Prime Minister John Howard, who recently called him ``chucker.''

Sri Lanka coach John Dyson accepted Muralitharan's absence, saying the bowler had been through ``a traumatic couple of months'' since being cited for an illegal action by International Cricket Council match referee Chris Broad at the end of the March series against Australia. He went through a series of tests before the ICC declared his ``doosra'' delivery illegal.

During the testing period he was allowed to play. In that time he claimed the wicket-taking world record, passing West Indian Courtney Walsh's mark of 519 and reaching 527.

``He feels he's not ready to play these Tests and from that point of view I respect his decision,'' Dyson said.

While Australia has not suffered a home series defeat for more than decade, Dyson was not prepared to hand the series to Australia.

``We can put Australia under enormous pressure,'' Dyson said.

``While they won the series in Sri Lanka 3-0, in every one of those games they were under pressure and had to do something special to pull out of it,'' he said.

Sri Lanka's tour starts with a warm-up game against a Northern Territory Chief Minister's XI on Thursday. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport