Peter Robinson cricket
The two great men of Sri Lankan cricket will not be treading South Africa’s fields this summer, but the third, make no mistake about it, is here. Whether Muttiah Muralitharan is the most effective off-spinner of all time is a matter for debate, but few would argue that in an age when off-spin is mostly considered redundant, Muralitharan is one of the few to carry the flame.
He’s not the only one, of course. Pakistan’s Saqlain Mushtaq can look after himself as well, but few finger spinners have ever turned the ball quite so prodigiously as the Sri Lankan.
Which leads directly to the heart of the controversy that will always surround Muralitharan: how does he get that spin? Partly from a genetically crook elbow (he cannot straighten it which is a genetic defect or gift, depending on how you look at it) and partly from an amazingly flexible wrist.
As things stand, Muralitharan has been cleared by the International Cricket Council, but this does not mean umpires cannot call him for throwing. Anyone hoping for an entertaining few weeks will hope they don’t. Sri Lanka have brought four reasonable fast bowlers to South Africa, but if they are to compete in the three-Test series, Muralitharan will be the key figure.
Anyone who wonders whether he can bowl on harder wickets than those in his native Sri Lanka ought to consider this: just weeks after England had beaten South Africa in 1998, Muralitharan bagged 16 wickets at The Oval, traditionally a fast bowler’s pitch, as Sri Lanka brought England sharply down to earth.
And if you’re partial to watching two craftsmen trying to work each other out, then Muralitharan’s duel with Daryll Cullinan should be one to savour. Cullinan has a wonderful record against the Sri Lankans: his century in the first Test in Galle in July was his fourth in as many Tests against the islanders, and even though Sri Lanka won that match by a mile, Cullinan had shown the South African batsmen one method of playing the spinner.
How the rest of the Sri Lankan attack copes with the conditions remains to be seen. They might take a while to find the right length on these pitches and if they don’t settle quickly the tourists could be in trouble.
They have decent batting line-up, one that can be explosive when the mood takes them, but they don’t have the reassuring presences of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva. Forget Hansie Cronje, what the Sri Lankans have lost is like taking Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis out of the South African line-up.
Without being unkind to New Zealand, there’s a sense that this summer hasn’t caught fire yet. Perhaps the Sri Lankans can light the touchpaper.