|
 |
 | | | You are in: Cricket: England |
|
| |  Friday, 14 June, 2002, 13:59 GMT 14:59 UK Living in Murali's shadow Murali's presence can inhibit his teammates
Having a bowler as good as Muttiah Muralitharan in your team can be something of a mixed blessing. Although Murali has more than 400 Test wickets to his credit and is a threat to any team on any surface, the effect of his presence on other bowlers - especially spinners - is not always a positive one. Over the past year, the Sri Lankan selectors have kept faith with basically the same half dozen batsmen - a period which saw them win nine successive Tests prior to the tour of England. But such consistency of selection has not been maintained with regard to the bowling attack.
A total of 15 different bowlers - or 16 if you include skipper Sanath Jayasuriya's left-arm spin - have been tried in 17 games since the first Test against England at Galle in February last year. Their task has been made more difficult because of injuries. Dilhara Fernando, their quickest bowler, missed 10 successive Tests, because of back trouble. And in the current Test at Old Trafford, niggles affecting Nuwan Zoysa and Charitha Buddhika prompted them to include Eric Upashanta - a bowler who had only taken five first-class wickets on tour at a cost of 55 runs each. "There are two sides to this. One reason is there have been lots of injuries - but we have had some changes I can't understand," former Test batsman Sidath Wettimuny told BBC Sport Online. Spin inhibitions It is in the spin department where the selectors have failed to show faith in anyone aspiring to emerge from Muralitharan's shadow.
Five have been tried since that game in Galle but Upul Chandana and Dinuk Hettiarachchi have only played once, Kumar Dharmasena twice and Niroshan Bandaratilleke three times against West Indies. Only off-spinner Thilan Samaraweera has enjoyed a prolonged opportunity, but that was primarily because of the amount of runs he scored batting at number seven - 523 at an average of 87. "Everybody seems to fall short of expectations when bowling with Murali. As a result, they chop and change too many guys," said Wettimuny. "You've got to give these guys a longer spell in the team to enable them to establish themselves with some confidence. That doesn't seem to happen because of Murali's dominance." Best options Wettimuny believes Chandana should have played at Lord's and Old Trafford in the current series. "Even a medioce spinner is better than a third or fourth seamer, who is also mediocre. At least there is variation."
Muralitharan is still only 30 and injuuries permitting, looks good for several more years at top level. But the day when someone else has to step forward to shoulder the wicket-taking burden will come eventually. So do the Sri Lankans know what their preferred bowling attack is? "Vaas, Dilhara and Nuwan Zoysa would make a decent pace attack and with two spinners, it could be formidable. "But the selectors haven't had the confidence to make a decision and stay with it," Wettimuny added. Until they do, it may be that third place in the International Cricket Council Test Championship - their current ranking - is the best they can realistically expect. | |
See also:  12 Jun 02 | England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
|
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
