He was the North Star of Sri Lankan cricket and fittingly he is there again in the constellation with all the brightness and radiance he deserves. The world cricket's highest wicket taker MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN 800 Test wickets has now been honoured as the ‘Most valuable Test player of the 21st century’ by Wisden’s Cricket Monthly.
He started his career primarily as an off spinner that brought him fame and fortune and helped enter all record books. As his career began to soar, he added many varities to his bowling armoury with the ‘doosra’ that was his main wicket taking delivery.
The ‘doosra’ is a delivery bowled with an off spin action but when pitches unlike the off spinner that spins from off to leg, pitches and turns like a leg break bemusing and baffling all batsmen.
MURALITHARN was taught this delivery by Pakistan’s off spinner Saqlan Mushtaq. ‘MURALI’ spent hours at the nets fine tuning this rare delivery and once he mastered it, he was king of spin and he astounded the cricket world.
In addition to the biting off spinner and bemusing ‘doosra’, which he controlled and bowled with amazing accuracy and flight, he also bowled the skidder – the one that goes straight, either rattling the batters stumps or having him plumb in front.
With wicket taking coming naturally to him like the Mahaweli in spate, it also sprouted the green eyeds who wanted him out of the game, questioning his action. When questioning his action is being discussed, the men who first ‘called’ him were umpires Hair followed by Emerson both from kangaroo land.
However ‘Murali’ did not lose heart or courage. He went through the many testing ordered by the International Cricket Council and all those who tested him cleared him to ply his trade, much to the joy of all Sri Lankans. He thus cocked a snook at his detractors.
To detail MURALITHARAN’S unbelievable and mind boggling figures with ball would require reams and reams of newsprint and bucket loads of ink. But suffice to say that there will never be born or made another MUTTIAH MURALITARAN.
MAHELA and ROSHAN invited
With the deafening cry by former cricketing stars that school cricket has hit a low and nothing has been done to bring it to the glory it enjoyed decades ago comes the heartening news that Mahela Jayawardena and Roshan Mahanama have been invited to help Sri Lanka school cricket to come alive again.
The SLC Cricket Committee chaired by former Sri Lanka captain and right hand technically correct batsman Anura Tennekoon discussed the issue at a meeting and made the decision to invite these two former greats to help.
According to information Tim McCaskill and former Thomian and CCC cricketer Jerome Jayaratne two important members of the High Performance Centre were present at this meeting.
All cricket fans, especially school cricket fans warmly welcomed the news. Sri Lanka Cricket should be complimented for playing the correct strokes and asking these two greats to help.
Jayawardena and Mahanama need no introduction to cricket fans here and abroad. Both were stylish and copy book cricketers who had all the strokes in the book and executed them to perfection in their illustrious school, club and national careers.
Jayawardena as captain of the country set an example and led the team with great aplomb. He took the country to two World Cup finals. The first was the World Cup in the Caribbean where Adam Gilchrist with a golf ball in his batting gloves blasted a majestic 149 to take the final from Sri Lanka.
Many cried foul on what Gilchrist did and wanted the Cup awarded to Sri Lanka by default. But being the extraordinary cricketing gentleman that he was, Jayawardena would entertain none of it and insisted that Australia won the game and that was it.
In addition Jayawardena was the second Sri Lankan batsman to score a hundred in a World Cup final when he made a stylish unbeaten 103, but had the misfortune of losing the final to India, which final came in for questioning by the Minister of Sports of that time Mahindananda Aluthgamage that has now been hit out of the ground.
Mahanama was a solid right hand opening batsman with the correct technique and temperament to face the new ball. But for reasons known only to those who fixed the batting order, forced Mahanama to bat in many positions. But being the true sport that he was he took it all ungrudgingly and did it ‘my way’. He is aware of the culprit who pushed him around.
Unlike in the past when not many schools played cricket, now there is surfeit of schools taking the field, which has gone to see the drop in the high standard of the game that existed in that era, which could be termed the golden era of school cricket in the country. And Jayawardena and Mahanama we are sure will accept the invite and help to bring school cricket to its former glory. We wish them well.
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