Murali looking for another milestone

by Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Hambanthota

CRICKET: Legendary off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be chasing another milestone when Sri Lanka starts their campaign for the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup with a match against Canada at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium in Hambanthota under lights today. The 38-year-old champion off spinner needs only three more wickets to overcome Wasim Akram's total of 55 ICC Cricket World Cup wickets and to move into the second place behind only Glen McGrath who has 71.

Muralitharan in fact is the world record holder in both Tests (800) and One Day Internationals (519) and will be making his fifth appearance in an ICC Cricket World Cup tournament.

In the 2007 World Cup edition staged in the Caribbean Muralitharan had a great amount of success where he was the second highest wicket taker with a total of 23 wickets from ten outings.

Meanwhile dashing opening batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan is also on the verge of achieving a personal milestone during Sri Lanka's curtain raiser match against Canada today. The 34-year-old explosive right-hander is just 44 runs short of completing 5,000 runs in One Day Internationals for his country and to join a select band of cricketers. He has an aggregate of 4956 runs at the moment from 194 matches at an average of 35.14 and a strike rate of 87.23.

Dilshan who made his One Day International debut against Zimbabwe in 1999 at Bulawayo has so far scored eight centuries and 20 half centuries with a highest score of 160 against India at Rajkot.