The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : No racial abuse, CA assures Murali

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No racial abuse, CA assures Murali

CRICKET / Ranatunga wanted the off-spinner to skip the tour

— Photo: AFP

ALL THE BEST, DAD: Muttiah Muralitharan plays with his son prior to the Sri Lankan team’s departure to Australia on Tuesday.

SYDNEY: Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said on Tuesday he did not believe Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan would face racist abuse from crowds during the upcoming tour.

Sutherland was responding to reported comments from former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga advising Murali to skip the tour in the wake of Australia’s recent racially-charged one-day series in India.

Ranatunga told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper from Colombo that it would be best for the spinner to miss the series, given the abuse he has suffered from Australian crowds about his controversial bowling action.

“I told him I wish he wasn’t touring Australia because of the amount of trouble he has had,” Ranatunga told the newspaper.

Pleased

Sutherland said he was pleased Muralitharan was visiting Australia after boycotting the 2004 tour.

“He has been to Australia before and the mere fact that he is coming is fantastic for cricket and we are very much looking forward to seeing him on our shores and doing his best,” Sutherland said.

“I think it is great he is happy and feels he has matured as a cricketer to come out here but he understands that he is not coming out for a holiday, it is serious cricket,” Australia opener Matthew Hayden said.

“But by the same token, our administration has made it very clear that there is no racial vilification of any kind that’s acceptable amongst our multicultural society in our venues.”

Sutherland was confident that the local crowds would not resort to racial abuse. “I’m not concerned about it,” he said. “We had a major campaign last year to increase awareness and understanding — people know where the line is drawn,” he said.

“There is no place for racism in cricket. We will take the strictest, harshest action possible if there are incidents,” he added.

Cricket Australia also said it would mount an advertising campaign on television and place anti-racism messages on the bottom of beer cups in an effort to avoid racist behaviour during the Australian summer.

Sutherland said he was confident steps taken by Cricket Australia to defuse crowd misbehaviour would be successful.

Muralitharan’s ultra-flexible bowling action has come under its heaviest scrutiny in Australia, where he has been called for throwing and subjected to constant crowd calls of “no ball.”

He boycotted Sri Lanka’s 2004 tour to Australia after Australian Prime Minister John Howard labelled him a “chucker.” However, he returned to Australia for a one-off Test for the Rest of the World in Sydney in 2005 and a one-day series in 2006, when he was unofficially reprimanded for making a one-fingered gesture at taunting spectators in Perth.

The upcoming two-Test trip to Australia has an added edge because Muralitharan needs only nine wickets to overtake retired local hero Shane Warne’s world record of 708 Test wickets. — Agencies

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