The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Muralitharan's operation a success: surgeon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Muralitharan's operation a success: surgeon

MELBOURNE, AUG.17 An injury to the bowling shoulder of Sri Lanka's record-breaking off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan wasn't as bad as first feared and an operation to fix it was a success, his surgeon told Australia's national broadcaster Tuesday.

Muralitharan will likely be sidelined for five months, but he should regain full use of his shoulder, orthopaedic surgeon David Young told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Late on Monday, Young operated on the Sri Lankan cricketing hero to treat a lesion which had caused a build-up of fluid around the nerves in his right shoulder.

Young said he thought the injury would be more severe.

``He's a 32-year-old who's been playing international cricket for 12 years. I thought there would be a fair bit of wear and tear on the shoulder. We didn't find that, we found a lesion and that in turn was pressing on a nerve and starting to weaken the muscle and that was our real concern.'' New Zealand and Pakistan before Muralitharan is expected to be fit to play again.

Warne drew level with Muralitharan as the world's top wicket taker last month but has never held the honour outright.— AP

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

Sport