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| Sunday, 14 December 2003 |
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England could do with a 'Go Johnny' as Murali rears his head by Srian Obeysekere England could well wish for a 'Go Johnny, Go Johnny' Wilkinson in their ranks. A wish that this cricketer turned World Cup winning rugby hero whose kicking boots for once kicked for a six the customary unsettling Aussie media tirade of poms against the English, would not have given up what was a promising cricket career for rugby. Indeed, their whitewash of minnows Bangladesh on the way to Sri Lanka must sound uninspiring if England's lacklustre showing so far here is anything to go by. Missing is the sting in the batting machinery of 2001 while the bowling department lacks a match winner of the likes of an Andrew Caddick. A draw salvaged by the skin of their teeth in the First Test a fortnight ago at Galle has left Sri Lanka's record breaking wizard with the ball, Muttiah Muralitharan holding centre stage to the world as he inches towards becoming the greatest bowler of all time at the tailend of an exhilarating year. A year heightened by the undisputable Australian dominance in re-annexing cricket's World Cup as much as the marking of the exit of the game's greatest warrior yet Steve Waugh, but which has with it failed to take the growing celebrity status enjoyed by Muttiah Muralitharan hailing from a comparatively far flung dot on the map in wholly different sub-continent Asian climes. At the time of writing Friday Muralitharan has been tormenting England's batsmen bemoaned so distrastefully by former captain turned columnist Michael Atherton much in defiance of the ICC's chucking related experts who have given the bowler an 'all clear' certificate. It is the going away delivery from the left handers that has stumped their best of bats men in the ongoing 3-Test series in the height of the festive Christmas month of December. The white sahibs swear it is a new shocker from his bag of tricks. Perhaps the best put to use one being the going away delivery that deceived their most trusted batsman against spin, Graham Thorpe into misreading and lofting the well disguised ball into the waiting hands of Chaminda Vaas at Galle as England struggled to stave off defeat which they finally did with the help of inclement weather. And again coming a cropper LBW at Asgiriya to the one coming in. A match bag of 11 wickets for 93 runs (7 for 46 and 4 for 47) fetched with it another feather for Muralitharan. A record twelve 10-wicket hauls. It took his tally to 464, 54 away from Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 and only 27 away from next best Shane Warne's stagnant 491. In retrospect, 2003 has been the high noon of Australian cricket as world beaters in both forms of the game as much as for its heroes. Their Test supremacy rode with the grounding of closest rivals South Africa despite a minor hicup which eventually led to Waugh losing the one-day captaincy to Ricky Ponting. But Waugh, Hayden and Warne, the, latter despite serving a drugs related 1-year ban, remain symbolic. Waugh as a truly great performer when the chips are down like the blazing career redeeming century before lunch on home soil. But none more memorable than that match winning slog sweeping hundred off the South Africans to steer his team from the dumps to the World Cup in 1999 England. Hayden for his gradual ascension as cricket's most prolific run maker under Waugh's tutelage, the zenith of his career being his world record 380 smashing Brian Lara's longstanding record of 375. Warne of course ironically hogging the limelight for once in disgrace for consuming a weight reducing drug when another world cup beckoned the champion bowler at South Africa 2003. Before that the thunder of some astounding feats none more awesome than the round the legs dismissal of England's Mike Gatting in their 1987 cup triumph underscoring match winning depth. If Australian cricket has been a defining yardstick of the modern day, the meteoric rise of the smiling, bearded wrecker from Sri Lanka has come full circle. Muralitharan continues to hog the limelight with his unorthodox artistry of twirling the ball. Today, he is only some steps away from scaling a huge mountain which is bound to eventually make the Sri Lankan as famous as Everest or Sir Hilary. The dozen of 10-wicket match hauls has come like a dime a dozen spanning in a 4-year period from 1998 to 2003. Under wraps Muralitharan's astonishing wicket taking regularity at a strike rate of 5.5 wicket per match with over 37 5-wicket hauls in an innings underlines that reality. Muralitharan looks well on the road to an estimated 665 wickets on that basis. To the on going Test, with Sri Lanka looking force a win in the ongoing second Test at Kandy's Asgiriya Stadium it is lamentable as to why the host country's fastest bowler Dilhara Fernando is being kept under wraps. The fast Kandy track could have been the ideal foil for the pace of Dilhara who might have made Murali's and Vaas' work cut out. True, Dilhara has not played for months through a stress shoulder injury which required rehabilitation. But that done by all accounts he is rearing to go and could have made the difference. It is hoped the selectors haven't forgotten the esteem this pace bowler has earned abroad mainly in South Africa as the most lethal bowler, his wicket taking slower delivery being the envy of many. Dilshan's arrival The Lankan batting indeed sang loud at Asgiriya after a slumber in Galle thanks to Tillekeratne Dilshan's re-entry to the firmament with a rollercoster 90-ball 62 in the first essay. It must surely cement the youngster's arrival from a long hibernation. Certainly the frills have been cut out and it is a fine tuned run hungry batsman that we see in Dilshan. It is a big boost to a long lingering Lankan middle-order which the selectors had been groping to plug. Above all, it is the return to form of the stylishly gifted Mahela Jayawardene that is heartening. His first innings unbeaten top score of 86 at Galle was a knock in gold, ground out when run making looked dried up as a desert after the tragic run out of Kumar Sangakkara whose bat had flashed in gay abandon before that. Sangakkara's early exit as it is drew the best from Jayawardene in a Allan Border like knock of the highest class as the right hander rode a stigma of form churning out every run. Sangakkara's was a similar fate at Asgiriya being stranded by Jayasuriya in the first innings. His dismissal once again brought about unwanted pressure on the middle order with newcomer Dinusha Fernando having to brave some Flintoff body blows on the way to a fighting half century. But the youngster despite the trappings of a willing worker ready to learn clearly needs the exposure of traversing the circuit in the fast lane and must be considered ill rashed into the Test arena in a series Sri Lanka needs to make amends for a lost last home series in 2001. Skipper Hashan Tillekeratne's leadership has been exemplary on the way braving the form bug to overcoming the testing hicup of scores of 00 and 01 at Galle with a fighting 45 in the second Test. His close catching at age 36 is a great example to the rest of the team where the skipper accounted for 4 remarkable catches which is significantly no grey area for one in greying years. Noteworthy is to recall his record 7 catches in a Test match against New Zealand in 1992 at the SSC which ranks as the highest alongside an equal number by Australian Greg Chappell (1974) Indian Yajurvindra Singh (1976) and New Zealander Stephen Fleming (1997). Indeed, the captain has looked magnificent on the field in the ongoing series and is a wonderful example for the young 'uns to take a cue from. MURALITHARAN'S 12 10-WICKET TEST HAULS |
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