Murali, Laker and Gibbs - 3 best off-spinners

By A.C. De. Silva

Searching for the leading spin bowler... It turned out to somewhat of a big task with the accent on fast bowlers. Though fast bowler England's Fred Trueman claimed his three-hundredth wicket at the Oval in England on August 15th 1952 getting the wicket of Hawke of Australia, it seemed a achievement had been achieved.

In those early days it was a feat without parallel and left far behind the then next best performance of 245 wickets that stood to the name of J. B. Statham his new-ball partner.

But now even the spinners have come into the fray and have shown in no uncertain manner that they have also come to the forefront. The leading spin bowler and a pleasing sight it has been for Sri Lanka cricket fans that one of Sri Lanka's and world's foremost spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan has passed Trueman's figure twice ever and more. Taking note of one-day internationals, when Murali dismissed Indian Gautam Gambhir (caught by wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara at the fourth ODI against India at the Premadasa Stadium on February 5th 2009, he claimed his 503rd ODI wicket. He then went past Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram's haul of 502 wickets. It was Murali's 328th match.

Murali, 36 then, is also the highest wicket-taker in Tests with 786 wickets as at November 17th 2009.

The record for Murali came with his 17,650th legal delivery. He is a off-spinner, now a 'Doosra' specialist.

World Records and Achievements

Muttiah Muralitheran holds a number of world records and several firsts:

l The highest number of international wickets in Tests and ODIs combined - 1,275 wickets as of May 6 in 2009.

l The most 5 wicket hauls in an innings at Test level - 22. He is the only player to take 10 wickets/match against every Test playing nation.

* Fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650 and 700 Test wickets in terms of matches played.

Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test in four consecutive matches. He has achieved this feat twice.

* Only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation.

* Muralitharan and the late Jim Laker (England) are the only bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings twice.

*7 wickets in an innings against the most countries (5).

*Most Test wickets taken bowled - 157. Stumped - 41 and caught and bowled 31.

*Most Man of the Series Awards in Test cricket - 11

*One of only six bowlers who have dismissed all the 11 batsmen in a Test match. Jim Laker, S. Venkataraghavan, Geoff Dymock, Abdul Qadir and Waqar Younis are the others.

*Most Test wickets in a single ground. Muralitharan is the only bowler to capture 100-plus Test wickets at three venues. The SSC grounds, the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and the Galle International Stadium.

*The only bowler to take 75 or more wickets in a calendar year on three occasions, achieving it in 2000, 2001 and 2006.

Test wicket milestones

1st Craig McDermott lbw 9 (vs Australia)

50th: Navjot Sidhu caught Ruwan Kalpage 43 (vs India)

100th: Stephen Fleming bowled 59 (vs New Zealand)

150th: Guy Whittall caught sub (Mahela Jayawardena) 17 vs Zimbabwe

200th: Ben Hollioake lbw 0 (vs England)

250th: Naveed Ashraf lbw 27 (vs Pakistan)

300th: Shaun Pollock caught T. Dilshan 11 (vs Bangladesh)

350th: Mohammad Sharif caught and bowled 19 (vs Bangladesh)

400th: Henry Olonga bowled 0 (vs Zimbabwe)

450th: Daryk Tuffey caught Sanath Jayasuriya 1 (vs Zealand)

500th: Michael Kasprowicz bowled 0 (vs Australia)

520th: Mluleki Nkala caught Mahela Jayawardena 24 (vs Zimbabwe) - Breaks Country Walsh's world record.

550th: Khaled Mashud caught Thilan Samaraweera 2 (vs Bangladesh)

600th: Khaled Mashud caught Lasith Malinga 6 (vs Bangladesh)

650th: Makhaya Ntini caught Farveez Maharoof 13 (vs South Africa)

700th: Syed Rasel caught Farveez Maharoof 4 (vs Bangladesh)

709th: Paul Collingwood bowled 45 (vs England) - Breaks Shane Warne's World Test Record.

750th: Sourav Ganguly stumped Prasanna Jayawardena 16 (vs India)

Another interesting fact: Muralitharan has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 66 occasions in Test cricket, which is a world record. In comparison Shane Warne who is in second place has performed the feat 37 times.

Muralitharan has played in four Cricket World Cup tournaments. In 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007. He has captured 53 World Cup wickets in 31 matches and has represented Sri Lanka in two World Cup finals. In 1996 Muralitharan was part of Sri Lanka's World Cup winning team that defeated Australia in Lahore, Pakistan. Muralitharan also played in the 2007 World Cup final, when Australia defeated Sri Lanka in Bridgetown, Barbados. He picked up 23 wickets in the 2007 World Cup, and finished was the second highest wicket taker in the tournament behind Glenn McGrath.

Muralitharan has the highest number of career wickets in One-Day Internationals, having overtaken Wasim Akram on February 5th 2009. Akram took 502 wickets in 356 matches. On February 3rd 2009, Muralitharan dismissed Yuvraj Singh in his 327th match, the third ODI against India here in Colombo to equal Akram's record. He has won 123 Man of the Match awards in this form of the game.

Laker's 19 wickets unbeatable

Two other off-spin bowlers in the world who made their presence felt before Muralitharan came on the scene was former England's off-spinner James Charles Laker and West Indian Lance Gibbs. Laker still holds to that phenomenal record of 19 Test wickets against Australia. He took 9 for 37 in the first innings against Australia in Manchester in 1956 and followed it up with all ten wicket (10 for 53) in the second innings. Well Laker is no more, he passed away on April 23 in 1986 in London but is record of 19 wickets in the Test against Australia in 1956, is likely to stay forever.

Laker born on February 9th 1922 at Frizinghall, Bradford (Yorkshire), made his Test debut against the West Indies at Barbados on January 21st in 1948 in the 1947-48 series along with D. Brookes, W. Place, G. A. Smithson and M. F. Tremlett. The four names mentioned would somewhat like to forget their debut as they fared somewhat miserably.

Laker however, cherished his debut with a sterling performance claiming 7 for 103 and 2 for 95.

The West Indies fourth wicket fell at 245 and finally they were all out for 296. Laker's victims included C. L. Walcott, G. E. Gomez, skipper G. A. Headley, R. J. Christiani, E. A. V. Williams and B. B. H. Gaskin in the first innings and Everton Weekes and Goddard in the second. Laker appeared 46 times for England and bowled the country to victory many times.

The following are his performances in a nutshell: 46 Tests, balls: 12,027, 63 innings, 4,101 runs, average: 21.24; highest score 63, best bowling in an innings - 10 for 53 in that famous match against Australia in Manchester in 1956.

Laker was the first England bowler to account for 50 plus West Indian wickets which was later emulated by F. S. Trueman, J. A. Snow, R. G. D. Willis and Ian Botham.

Lance Gibbs hat-trick 1961

It is no more a streak of silver. All his hair if silver and age really has caught up with him. But former West Indian great Lance Gibbs is a happy man after his playing days for the West Indies.

There was no West Indian side without Gibbs when the off-spinner was in his prime. He took more wickets than anyone else in Test cricket and that is a record which lasted for more than six seasons. Dennis Lillee passed him on the very same ground on which Gibbs had overtaken Freddie Trueman - the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And then the world passes him by. Lance Gibbs played 79 Tests, bowled 27,115 deliveries, gave away 8,989 runs and captured 309 wickets at an average of 29.09 per wicket.

He seemed to bowl almost off the wrong foot with a windmill action and an arm coming through, as it were out of step with his body action.

There was a charm to his finger spinning ways which is spoken of even today by the people who matter. The high delivery arm did not make him a flat off-spinner. Gibbs was able to give the ball more air in his own way. His spinning fingers is even talked about by the people who know the game even when they talk about West Indian cricket.

His spinning fingers used to go sore on just squeezing out the cricket ball, over after over, to get it to turn and spin and talk.

The West Indies side that Sir Frank Worrell moulded was greater than its more successful successors simply because it had everything - pace, spin and versatality. Gibbs and Sobers made as fine a spinning combination as Hall and Griffith would be with pace.

On a slow wicket the pace bowlers would go into somewhat a hiding, and then Gibbs would peg away in his very competitive way.

Gibbs achieved the first hat-trick, in a Test match in Australia in 1961 when he dismissed Mackay, Grout and Mission in the fourth Test at Adelaide. Gibbs best effort was 8 for 38 in the second innings against India in Barbados in 1961-62 while his best match effort was 11 for 157 (5 for 59 and 6 for 98) versus England at Manchester in 1963. He took five or more wickets on 18 occasions and 10 or more wickets in a match twice.