da premier bet： Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan played down the pre-match hype but hecouldn’t hide his delight when became the youngest bowler and was fastest totake Test 400 wickets at Galle on Tuesday morning and he has now set hissights on taking 600
Charlie Austin15-Jan-2002Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan played down the pre-match hype but hecouldn’t hide his delight when became the youngest bowler and was fastest totake Test 400 wickets at Galle on Tuesday morning and he has now set hissights on taking 600.For three days an expectant crowd had filled into this seaside stadiumhoping to witness Muralitharan’s reach the landmark. But on each theywandered home disappointed as a docile pitch and some unusually tenaciousbatting prolonged the wait.But on a frenzied fourth morning, when Zimbabwe lost their last five wicketsfor just six runs, the off-spinner grabbed a wicket with his first ball andpolished off the innings by bowling Travis Friend and Henry Olonga withsuccessive deliveries to become the seventh man in Test cricket’s 125 yearhistory to take 400.As Muralitharan was engulfed by his teammates, fireworks erupted from thegrassy stands in front of the grand Dutch Fort. When he finally emerged fromhis team’s embrace, he held aloft match ball and walked off the field to astanding ovation with a grin that nearly spilt his face in half.Blessed with a partially bent elbow and an unusually flexible wrist thatallows him to turn the ball prodigiously, he reached the cherished landmarkin his 72nd Test, which was eight games faster than New Zealand’s RichardHadlee, the previous quickest.Just 29-years-old, he was also two years younger than Australian leg-spinnerShane Warne had been when he became the youngest to the 400-mark England atthe Oval last August.By the end of the day, when Sri Lanka had won by a massive 315 runs, hefinished with 404 Test victims and 30 in the series, a new Sri Lankanrecord.”I didn’t have that much luck on the first few days as the ball wasdropping here and there, but I kept being patient as we all knew that onewicket would bring two or three,” he said afterwards.”It’s hard to take 400 wickets and it’s a great moment in my career and I amreally proud to have reached having played less Test matches than others.”But personal achievements don’t mean so much if the team is not winning andI was really glad that we also won the match.”Having been the world highest wicket-taker for the last two yearsMuralitharan has now set his sights on 500 and then Courtney Walsh’s worldrecord tally of 519.”The main thing in my mind now is to take 500 wickets, but if I remain fitand keep performing well then I can continue for another five years andcould then get 600,” he saidMuralitharan is more confidant of doing so because of the greater support henow gets from the other bowlers: “When you have pressure at both ends youcan normally get more wickets and that is why I have been getting morewickets in the last four years.”He plays done the head to challenge with Warne: “I don’t see Shane Warne asa rival. If he gets 500 or 600 wickets I don’t mind it, as it is hisachievement. I want to concentrate on my personal achievements and the sidewinning.”Despite taking five and a half wickets per game, Muralitharan has struggledto gain due recognition for his exploits because of a controversial bowlingaction for which he was no balled thrice in Australia during the 1990s.Although it proved to be a watershed moment in his career, helping him tobecome a stronger cricketer, and that he was later cleared by theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) legal after a detailed video analysis bythe University of Western Australia, it’s a period in his career that he’skeen to forget.”As far as I see it, two umpires made mistakes and they should listen to theICC,” he said bluntly.He now looks forward to a short break and a tough series in England: “We nowhave two weeks off and we will try to train really hard to make sure we areat the top of out game for England.”