Day two of the second test between Sri Lanka and India ended yesterday with Sri Lanka in a pretty comfortable position, notwithstanding the typical flurry of Sehwag runs at the end of the day. However they will discover today, for the first time in a long time what life is like toiling away on a flat track made for big scores (lowest completed score so far: 54) without the world’s best bowler. That’s because Muttiah Muralitharan retired at the end of the last test. Fittingly he took a wicket with his last ball, giving him 8 for the match and an even 800 for his test career. And while his legacy will be a difficult one to place in the pantheon of great bowlers and cricketers, it’s hard to argue with anyone who stands atop the wickets tables in both test and limited-overs cricket.
The problem facing Murali’s legacy in the eyes of the cricketing public makes the white elephant in the room look more like a mouse. His action, if you hadn’t noticed, tended to raise a few eyebrows. He was no-balled for throwing in the Boxing Day test in 1995, and again at Adelaide in a one-dayer against England in 1999. His critics included Dean Jones, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Holding, Martin Crowe and John Howard, when the then prime minister of Australia called him a “chucker”. A third time, in 2004, his action was called into question by the match referee of a test against Australia (you are forgiven for sensing a theme here).
Subsequent tests and studies were undertaken to prove the legality or otherwise, of Murali’s action. The theory was that his arm was bending a bit more than it should just before he delivered his ‘doosra’ (the one that goes the other way) and it should be considered illegal. In fact according to ICC regulations, stating that spin bowlers were allowed a 5 degree elbow extension, it was illegal. But a panel of ex-test players gathered with the ICC and reviewed all test bowlers pre-2000 and decided that based on those rules (5 degrees for spinners, 7.5 for medium pacers and 10 for quicks), 99% of all bowlers broke the law (for the trainspotters, only Ramnaresh Sarwan was legit), since everyone tended to flex the elbow in the 10+ degree range. So instead of outlawing everyone, they decided that a bend of 15 degrees in the elbow should be sufficient to keep the records intact. So Murali was free to bowl his doosra when and where he wanted, and it was ok by the ICC.
In fact, Murali even tried to denounce his critics during a test in 2004 against England. He had an arm brace made from a cast of his bowling arm that was designed to keep his arm bent while bowling. The idea being that with this brace, made of resin and fortified with steel bars, his arm could not possibly straighten during delivery. Thus if he could bowl properly while wearing it he wasn’t actually chucking. And he did. So he’s not a chucker, then? No, but only according to the ICC, the game’s governing body. Curiously the film of this episode with the brace, hosted by Channel 4’s Mark Nicholas (now Channel 9), was never shown in Australia.
But then there will always be dissidents. He is clearly a class act and his stats and records go some way to confirming this. There isn’t enough room to list all of his career highlights, but here are just a few:
- Being born with that strange elbow/shoulder situation would surely have to be highlight number 1.
- Most test wickets – 800
- Most ODI wickets – 515
- Most 5-wicket hauls in tests – 67
- Most 10-wicket matches in tests – 22
- Only player to have 50+ wickets against every test playing nation
- Took 10 wickets in a match in four consecutive matches. Twice!
- Excluding run out, ‘bowled Muralitharan’ is the most common form of dismissal in test history
- Most Man of the Series awards – 11
- Most ducks ever in international cricket (all forms) – 59
- Celebrated hi 100th test wicket with the prized scalp of S.P. Fleming for a typically Flemesque 59.
And there are many, many more. Many more. As an aside, the least mentioned but arguably most effective bowler in the top 10 (which is also the list of the only players with 400 test wickets) – apart from Murali, of course – is Sir Richard Hadlee at number seven. He played only 86 tests while the six players above him on the list played at least 28 more. He has the third best average, the best strike rate, the third most 5fers (Warne, who played 59 more tests than Sir Richard, has exactly one more 5fer), the third most 10 wicket matches (again, Warne has one more), third best innings figures, second best match figures and was pretty economical too. His career lasted 18 years and he has the distinction of having played after being knighted. Yet you wonder, as with the vast majority of all New Zealand’s quality cricketers, imagine if he’d played more cricket.
That sort of thinking can lead you to other places, like was he the best bowler ever? Statistically, he has no peer, and as Shane Warne mentioned, his record is unlikely to be broken. But as prosperous as he was, his record will always be clouded in the eyes of many. Though perhaps mostly those of the canary yellow persuasion.
