Murali - on top of all

By A. C. de Silva

WORLD’S TOP BOWLER: Former Antonian cricketer and Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 1991 - Muttiah Muralitharan, got at his life’s ambition in sports - 800 wickets in Test cricket. Murali piloted Sri Lanka to a First Test victory over India in the present series at the Galle Esplanade on Thursday.

From his schooldays Muralitharan had a liking for cricket and he plugged away at it with utmost dedication and has been richly rewarded. After his schooldays at St. Anthony’s, Katugastota it was quite natural that a bowler of his stature would come into the Sri Lanka side and he was in the Sri Lanka team playing Test cricket for 18 years. His perseverance got his life’s ambition in sport, the 800 wickets. He is now 38 years of age and has played 133 Test matches.

Real dedication to the game of cricket was Murali’s hallmark, and he played the game giving it all he had in him so that the team that he represents - Sri Lanka in this instance, will be on top.

He was a keen student of the game. He was first a medium pace bowler, but on the advice of his school coach Sunil Fernando, he took up off-spin bowling when he was 14 years old. He impressed then and that opened up the road for his tremendous success in big-time cricket.

After leaving school, he joined Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club and was selected for the Sri Lanka ‘A’ tour of England in 1991. He played in five games but failed to capture a single wicket. On his return to Sri Lanka, he impressed against Allan Border’s Australian team in a practice game and then went on to make his Test debut in 1982 at R. Premadasa Stadium in the second Test match of the series.

Grandfather’s wish came right

His grandfather Periyasamy Sinasamy died at the age of 104 years in July 2004 and his grandfather’s wish was to see Murali claiming the world record for most Test wicket, was realised. (First passing the record set by Courtney Walsh), and he also wanted to see his grandson married, though the second wish could not be met then, Muralitharan married Madhimalar - and Indian national on March 21, 2005 and their first child Naren was born in January 2006. Murali’s immediate home-front were there to savour the joy of his wonderful bowling at the match and with so many pictures being flashed on the screen and in the newspapers, the family has enough to savour for many years to come.

Going down memory lane, in 2002 Wisden carried out a statistical analysis of all Test matches in an effort to rate the greatest cricketers in history, and Muralitharan was ranked as the best Test bowler of all time. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh called him “the Don Bradman of bowling”.

Muralitharan was selected as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2000 and in 2006.

ICC approves bowling action

There has been a lot of talk about Muralitharan’s bowling action in the past, but in 1996 and again in 1999 Muralitharan’s action was cleared by the International Cricket Council.

Then the legality of Muralitharan’s ‘doosra” was first called into question in 2004. This delivery was found to exceed the ICC elbow extension limit by nine degrees, five degrees being the limit for spinners at that time. Based on official studies into bowling actions, which revealed that 99% of all bowlers, exceed the elbow flexion limits. ICC revised the limits applying to all bowlers in 2005. Muralitharan’s “Doosra” falls within the revised limits.

Now Muralitharan has got to one of his cherished dreams, claiming his 800th Test wicket.

He was also the fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650 and 700 Test wickets. He is also the only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation. Muralitharan and the late Jim Laker (England) are the only two bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings twice. Muralitharan is one of only six bowlers who have dismissed all the eleven batsmen in a Test match. The late Jim Laker, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Geoff Dymock, Abdhur Qadir and Waqar Younis are the others.

He is the only bowler to capture 100-plus Test wickets at three venues - the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo, Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and the Galle International Stadium.

A large heart

It is always not cricket that touches the heart of Muralitharan. Along with his manager Kushil Gunasekera, he established the Foundation of Goodness - a charity organisation in the early 2000s. This organisation is committed to the well-being of the Seenigama region and supports local communities through a range of projects across areas including children’s needs, education and training, healthcare and psycho-social support, housing, livelihoods, sport and the environment.

In June 2004, Muralitharan also joined the United National World Food Program as an Ambassador to fight hunger among school children. When the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka on December 26 in 2004, Muralitharan went into action to ensure that aid reached people that needed it. He himself nearly escaped death, arriving 20 minutes late at Seenigama, where he was to give away prizes at one of the charity projects he worked on.