The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Murali set to scale the summit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Murali set to scale the summit

Kandy: Muttiah Muralitharan returns to his home town to become Test cricket’s most successful bowler, a feat Australia denied him but England is unlikely to prevent.

The spin wizard, 35, begins Sri Lanka’s first Test against Michael Vaughan’s men at the Asgiriya stadium here on Saturday needing five wickets to surpass Shane Warne’s world mark of 708.

Record formality

Not even the Englishmen doubt Muralitharan will surpass Warne during the series, most likely at Kandy itself, marking a new high in the career of one of the most celebrated and controversial bowlers of the modern game.

Vaughan conceded Murali’s record was a formality waiting to happen, while journalists travelling with the tourists are running a sweepstake on which English batsman will give him the landmark wicket.

Destiny

It appears the off-spinner is destined to reach the summit in this serene hill resort where he was born into a confectioner’s family in 1972 and reached the 700-wicket mark in the last Test here against Bangladesh in July.

Murali, as he is popularly known, went to Australia for two Tests last month needing nine wickets to overtake Warne, but managed only four at the cost of 400 runs on wickets more suited to fast bowling. The first Test against England was originally to be played in Galle, but was later shifted to Kandy because the tsunami-wrecked stadium in southern Galle was taking time to be rebuilt. Murali is expected to be England’s main threat in the three-Test series. — Agencies

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

Sport