Come in spinner.......

I jet into Sri Lanka this week to witness something very significant. I will be hosting the intriguing series between Sri Lanka and India for Ten Sports and along with my fellow commentators will be bidding farewell to one of the great of the game after the first test in Galle.

Muttiah Muralitharan is eventually hanging up his well worn bowling arm and consigning any further rigours and stresses to that appendage and connected joints to the shorter versions of the game. It is all very understandable considering he has whirred down 43 699 deliveries in est matches, 18169 in ODIs and in total, over 66 500 in all First-class matches. Throw in a lifetime of net sessions as well and suddenly Murali’s remarkable endurance capabilities become crystal clear. The wear and tear following nearly two decades at the top, toiling with an extremely unorthodox bowling action, has taken its toll and Muralitharan’s decision is both timeous and correct. The body is screaming enough is enough and it’s time to slow down. He has definitely lost some of the potency and fizz of a few years ago but his records and impact on the game will always stand.

Statistics do not lie. He is entering his final test with 792 victims up his sleeve. 66 times he has taken five wicket hauls in an innings and on 22 occasions he has bagged ten wickets in a test. In comparison, the mercurial Warne managed five wickets in an innings 37 times and 10 wickets in test on 10 occasions. The statistics also show that he has played countless times against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, totaling 176 wickets from 25 matches, compared to Warne’s meager three outings and 17 wickets. None the less Muttiah’s achievements are astonishing and his test record will never be beaten.

His career at times has been dogged by controversy with many doubting the legality of his bowling action and his name sporadically thrown in the gutter. It seemed at one stage that anyone with a poisoned pen or cynical audience chastised him. Those tough times would have broken a lesser man. The fact remains that he has been called for throwing, (most notably by Australians), scrutinised extensively, and permitted to continue. He has even subjected himself to random biomechanical analysis at universities in Australia and Hong Kong to clear the air and allow some important documentary evidence to be tabled so that he could continue his craft in the knowledge of legality. He has unquestionably provided off-spinners around the world with a powerful and effective novel weapon called the doosra that has enabled those finger spinners to break the mould and free themselves from one dimensional bowling, therefore adding an attacking dimension that greatly enhanced effectiveness.

Uniquely he will be remembered as a wrist spinner of the highest order who consistently had millions of viewers around the vast cricketing globe on the edge of their seats in anticipation as soon as he entered the attack. Most would still be there hours later.

Muttiah Muralitharan should be admired. He has been a game-changer, the like of which we will never see again.

How fitting it will be if he can round off that total to 800 victims when the curtain closes on an extraordinary and fascinating test career.