The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Speed criticises Australia's PM for Murali remarks

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Saturday, Jul 03, 2004

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Speed criticises Australia's PM for Murali remarks

SYDNEY, JULY 2 . ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed rebuked Australian Prime Minister John Howard for dubbing Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan a ``chucker'' that eventually resulted in the boycott of the Top End tour down under by the cricketer.

Though Muralitharan cited ``personal reasons'' to skip the tour, it was evident that the spinner was not amused by Mr Howard's observation that the Lankan chucked his mysterious doosra delivery.

The Age quotes the ICC chief executive as saying, "In the overall scheme of things, cricket would have been better served if Mr Howard hadn't made that comment.''

Mr Speed, however, denied that it was the jeering Australian crowd, who often shouted ``no-ball'' whenever Murali came to bowl, kept the player out of the tour.

``I don't accept that barracking has driven Muttiah Muralitharan out of Australia. Muttiah has said he will go to Australia and will play in other tours. Barracking is a healthy part of the game and always has been,'' he observed.

Mr. Speed also informed that a subcommittee, comprising former Test players Tim May, Aravinda da Silva and Angus Fraser, together with biomechanists and scientists, would monitor the research into bowling actions and deliver a report to the ICC cricket committee by the end of the year. — UNI

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