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| Sunday, 9 May 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Murali on top of the world - breaks Walsh's Test record Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Zimbabwe
HARARE, May 8 - Muttiah Muralitharan became the greatest wicket-taker on planet Earth when he surpassed West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh's Test record of 519 Test wickets on the third day of first cricket Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club grounds here today. The moment the whole cricket world was waiting for arrived at 1.51 p.m. (Zimbabwe time) when Muralitharan had Mluleki Nkala caught off bat and pad by Mahela Jayawardene at silly point for 24. Muralitharan leapt in the air and in a matter of seconds his teammates were around him like a horde of ants congratulating him on his wonderful feat of taking the 520th Test wicket of his career and along with it becoming the highest wicket taker in Test history. Had Muralitharan been a boxer like Muhammad Ali, the former world heavyweight champion he would have proclaimed to the world in typical Ali style: "I am the greatest". That was how Muralitharan would have felt when he took the world record from Walsh. Muralitharan was playing in his 89th Test and achieved the world record in 43 Tests quicker than Walsh whose 519 wickets came off 132 Tests. Once the celebrations were over, Muralitharan followed the world record wicket by holding on to a return catch offered by Alester Maregwede for 22 and in the process injured his right index finger. He was on a hat-trick at that time and had to wait until he returned from treatment off the field to make an attempt at another feat, which had eluded him during his career. However it was not to be as last man Panyangara successfully negotiated the delivery. Among the first to congratulate Muralitharan on his achievement was Walsh who phoned on former teammate Phil Simmons' cell-phone to convey his best wishes. Simmons is in Zimbabwe helping them out with their academy. Muralitharan later said that Walsh had also congratulated him when he had reached 500 Test wickets during the Australian series at home in March. Muralitharan was given a guard of honour by his teammates with bats raised when he returned to the pavilion amidst cheers from the small crowd of spectators, which included a few domiciled Sri Lankans among them. Two Australian supporters who had travelled all the way to Harare especially for the historic occasion unveiled a banner congratulating Muralitharan on his achievement of 520 Test wickets. They were in Kandy as well when Muralitharan got his 500th Test wicket. Muralitharan who took six wickets for 45 in the first innings and followed it up with two for 37 was named man of the match after Sri Lanka had completed one of their biggest Test win over any country thrashing an under strength Zimbabwe by an innings and 240 runs inside three days. Muralitharan now has 521 Test wickets and will be looking to extend that figure in the second Test, which starts at Bulawayo on Thursday. Zimbabwe who made 199 on the first innings was bowled out for 102 in the second. Sri Lanka replied with 541. Apart from breaking the world record Muralitharan also broke the glass of a framework a displaying a cricket shirt worn by former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes when he hit a massive six off spinner Prosper Utseya into the Keg and Maiden restaurant during his exciting knock of 26. Zoysa's first five-wkt haul The rate at which the Zimbabwe wickets started to tumble in the second innings, forced skipper Atapattu to bring on Muralitharan from the City End replacing Vaas who had just taken his first wicket of the match by having Taylor superbly caught by a diving Muralitharan at short fine leg. But the record did not come as easily as Muralitharan would have liked. He had to wait for more than an hour after lunch and until his eighth over to break Walsh's record. The fact that he had to wait so long told of the tension that was going through his mind to try and get over it. When he finally achieved it there was some relief in his face and he began bowling like the old Muralitharan. His fantastic performance overshadowed the fine bowling of left-armer Nuwan Zoysa who captured his first five-for in a Test. Harare seems to bring the best out of Zoysa. It was here five years ago that he performed the first and only hat-trick by a Sri Lankan bowler in Test cricket, and today he bowled superbly swinging and seaming the ball to capture four wickets for 11 runs in his first spell of seven overs as Zimbabwe lost their first five wickets for 18 runs. Then he came back to dismiss Mahwire for two to take his first five-for in a Test innings playing in his 27th Test. His previous best was 4 for 54. Vaas his new ball partner bowled equally well but with limited luck. Resuming at 456-7, Sri Lanka went onto score their highest total in Zimbabwe - 541, when the last three wickets added a useful 85 runs. The way the tail-enders batted gave an indication of how well the pitch was playing. Sri Lanka's previous highest total in Zimbabwe was 432 in 1999-00 at Harare. Sri Lanka lost Vaas early in the second over of the morning, but the ninth and tenth wicket pairs established new records for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe. Maharoof and Zoysa added 39 for the ninth wicket in 51 balls to improve on the previous record of 30 by Pramodya Wickremasinghe and Russel Arnold at Harare in 1999-00. After Maharoof's dismissal for a well compiled 40 of 75 balls (6 fours) on his Test debut, Zoysa joined by Muralitharan figured in a last wicket stand of 45 off 58 balls, which erased the 25 runs by Kumar Dharmasena and Muralitharan at Bulawayo in 1994-5. ZIMBABWE - ST INNINGS 199
(M.Muralitharan 6-45)
SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 456-7)
M. Atapattu b Hondo 170
S. Jayasuriya c Hondo b Taibu 157
K. Sangakkara c Taibu b Matsikenyeri 11
M. Jayawardene c Utseya b Chigumbura 37
T. Dilshan c Utseya b Mahwire 10
T. Samaraweera c Taibu b Panyangara 6
P. Jayawardene b Panyangara 4
C. Vaas c Matsikenyeri b Mahwire 28
F. Maharoof lbw b Mahwire 40
N. Zoysa not out 28
M. Muralitharan c Maragwede b Panyangara 26
EXTRAS (b-2 lb-13 nb-6 w-3) 24
TOTAL (all out, 125.1 overs) 541
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-281 2-312 3-369 4-387 5-399
6-403 7-414 8-457 9-496.
BOWLING: Hondo 27-6-103-1 (nb-4),
Panyangara 26-1-2-101-3,
Mahwire 18-1-97-3 (nb-2 w-2),
Nkala 7-1-41-0 (w-1),
Utseya 12-2-55-0,
Matsikenyeri 15-2-58-1,
Taibu 8-1-27-1,
Chigumbura 12-2-44-1.
ZIMBABWE 2ND INNINGS
S. Matsikenyeri c M.Jayawardene b Zoysa 11
B. Taylor c Muralitharan b Vaas 4
D. Ebrahim c P.Jayawardene b Zoysa 2
T. Taibu lbw b Zoysa 0
E. Chigumbura c P.Jayawardene b Zoysa 0
A. Maragwede c & b Muralitharan 22
M. Nkala c M.Jayawardene b Muralitharan 24
P. Utseya b Maharoof 0
B. Mahwire c P.Jayawardene b Zoysa 2
D. Hondo not out 15
T. Panyangara c M.Jayawardene b Jayasuriya 18
EXTRAS (lb-2 nb-2) 4
TOTAL (all out, 32 overs) 102
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 2-15 3-17 4-17 5-18
6-63 7-64 8-64 9-72.
BOWLING: Vaas 8-2-24-1, Zoysa 10.5-2-30-5,
Muralitharan 8.1-1-27-2, Maharoof 4-0-18-1 (nb-2)
Jayasuriya 1-0-1-1.
Second test: May 14-18, Bulawayo.
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