Goodbye MURALI!

By Dinesh WEERAWANSA

There was a little known schoolboy cricketer was been constantly taking wickets in the late eighties. By early 90s, he became a household name in inter-school cricket, capturing over 100 wickets each in successive seasons.

His last two seasons as a schoolboy cricketer with a rich harvest of over 250 wickets even won him the prestigious Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award in 1991. But his surname was written with different spellings.

By now you would have got a clue on the person whom I am going to write about. But at those very early stages, his name was spelt as Muraliyadharan, Muralidaran, Muraliyathan and Muralitharan.One fine Saturday evening, I went all the way to the Air Force grounds at Katunayake to witness a domestic match and the purpose of my visit was to meet this regular wicket-taker and get the correct spelling of his surname from the horse's mouth. That was the first time I saw this great cricketer, some 21 years ago.

But by now, there is hardly anybody who doesn't know to spell this great cricketer's name - MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN! Over the past two decades, he has proved his class to become the most successful bowler ever in world cricket with over 1,300 wickets in international cricket - 800 wickets in Tests and another 500 plus haul in one day internationals (ODI).

The final two year's of Muralitharan's presence at St. Anthony's College, Katugastota, were simply invincible. There were two other superb spinners in that champion Antonian team - Piyal Wijetunga and Ruwan Kalpage. Incidentally, all three Antonian spinners represented Sri Lanka in a same Test match.

Born on April 17, 1972, Muralitharan made his Test debut for Sri Lanka at the age of 20 and ever since, he has blossomed to become the greatest bowler in international cricket. He retired from international cricket with the conclusion of the 2011 ICC World Cup tournament in Mumbai yesterday.

Test debut 1992

Muralitharan made his Test debut on August 28, 1992 against Australia at Premadasa Stadium, capturing 1 for 38. His only wicket and the first of his long list of 800 scalps was Craig McDermott who was trapped leg before wicket for nine runs.

But Murali had to sweat for his wickets in the Australian second innings to capture 2 for 109 with wickets of opener Tom Moody and Mark Waugh for a first ball leg before wicket 'duck'. Only a few people are aware that former Sri Lanka coach Moody was Murali's second of the 800 victims in Test cricket.

Murali accounted for his first five-wicket haul - 5 for 104 in South Africa's first innings in Moratuwa. It included wickets of Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes in 1995.

He became the first Sri Lankan to reach 100 Test wickets on March 16, 1997, when he dismissed Stephen Fleming in the second innings of the Hamilton Test. In January the following year, Muralitharan recorded his first match bag of ten wickets - against Zimbabwe in the Kandy Test.

When Murali decided to call it a day from Test cricket in the first Test against India in Galle in July last year, many thought he should have played in the entire three-Test series as he was eight wickets short of the magical 800 mark.

But Murali strongly believed in himself and thought one game was enough for him to capture eight wickets.

He did exactly that when he had figures of 5 for 63 and 3 for 128 to become the first man to capture 800 Test wickets.

Since making his Test debut in August 1992, Murali had to wait for exactly a year to make his ODI debut for Sri Lanka.

The venue of his ODI debut too was the Premadasa Stadium and he finished with 1 for 38 in ten overs with the wicket of Praveen Amre - bowled for one.

That humble start paved way to produce the ODIs highest ever wicket taker and before yesterday's mega final, Muralitharan had captured 534 wickets in 349 ODIs.

Path to success - the hard way

Murali's road to success was not through a bed of roses and he had to face many ups and downs during his illustrious career. It was when Muralitharan was playing in his 22nd Test that controversial ICC umpire Darrel Hair no-balled the Lankan seven times for a suspect action on the second day of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG on December 27, 1995.

Ever since, Murali not only had to fight to win wickets but also to face adverse campaign against his bowling.

Merely two months before Sri Lanka's World Cup triumph, Ross Emerson, umpiring his first match, no-balled Muralitharan for a suspect action in an ODI against West Indies at Brisbane.

Murali was determined in defeat - the hallmark of his success. Despite the mental agony he had to undergo against false propaganda and when some of our own media experts questioned the legitimacy of his bowling action, Muralitharan silently worked to prove his innocence.

When the legendary spinner had to face his third 'no balling' episode on January 23, 1999 - called again by Emerson in an ODI against England in Adelaide, Muralitharan opted to prove his innocence scientifically. He underwent tests on his action at the University of Western Australia in Perth and won his battle successfully.

Variation and innovations got wickets

The spin wizard has the ability turn the ball on any surface. Above all, he has managed to keep variation and make innovations in his own bowling. When his opponents got used to Murali's bowling gradually, the master spinner kept on experimenting and inventing different lethal weapons that were added to his bowling armoury.

Every good thing would have a sad end and there is no exception in Muralitharan's career. We would never see this cricketer again in Sri Lanka attire at an international match. It is hard to find a replacement to such a talented cricketer of Murali's calibre and his absence would be badly felt for many years. He even got a wicket off the last delivery of his international career in Sri Lanka at last Tuesday's World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand.

Murali, you have made an incomparable contribution to Sri Lanka cricket. You are a true son of our soil who has made mother Lanka proud.

The sweat you shede in the cricketing field enabled little known Sri Lanka to mark her place prominently in the world sporting map.

Thank you Murali for those great milestone achievements that made Sri Lanka proud! Good bye Murali and a happy retirement from international cricket!