By Ranil Prematilake

I have known Murali for over a decade. During this period we have played cricket together, enjoyed the fruits of victories and experienced the despair of defeat. In course of time the team captained by me became seasoned professionals capable of taking victory as well as defeat in our stride. Generally the period from 1991 -1998 is considered by many to be the golden era in Sri Lankan cricket. During this period Sri Lankan cricket came of age. Apart from winning the World Cup in 1996, we had memorable victories against almost all the cricket playing nations both in Test cricket as well as in limited over games. The teams which we were able to beat included some formidable and world class cricketers. In fact in 1992 for the first time we won two victories in the World Cup competitions, one against South Africa and the other over Zimbabwe.

Paradoxically this golden age of cricket started with a loss to Australia in the First Test match in the tour of 1992 and in the most inexplicable manner. In this match in 1992 Sri Lanka bolstered by three (3) centuries from Sri Lankan batsmen were able to get a huge lead over Australia, but finally succumbed to them by a mere 16 runs caused by a break down in the batting in the second innings. It was on this occasion that the Australian captain Alan Border rightly said that we had to be beaten on our butts. After this encounter Murali was inducted in to the Test team and he has not looked back since then. In a subsequent Test match vs. England, we were able to beat them and Murali played an important role both with the bat and the ball.

Murali blossomed out during our victorious tour of New Zealand in 1994 which was followed by a series victory over Pakistan. The New Zealand tour was our first series victory abroad and was immediately followed by our victorious tour of Pakistan thus achieving back to back series, both away. In both these series Murali played a valuable part in securing our success along with Pramodya Wickram- singhe and Chaminda Vaas.

Murali really came of age in our controversial tour of Australia in 1994-95. This tour became infamous when umpire Hair no bowled Murali for throwing. It was obvious to us that this was a pre-meditated move orchestrated by some Australians who were scared of the spectre of facing Murali's bowling. There is reason to believe that the whole episode was the outcome of an innocuous remark by that great spin bowler Mustaq Ahmed of Pakistan. It came about this way. The Pakistanis after loosing to Australia earlier beat them in Sydney in the last Test match mainly due to the spin bowling of Mustaq Ahmed . When interviewed on his remarkable bowling Mustaq Ahmed had warned the Australians about the spin bowling of Muralidaran which he stated was far better than his own. Obviously a minor tremor has affected the cricketing establishment of Australia and the final result was the ridiculous decision by Umpire Hair to call Murali for throwing.

This episode and the subsequent action by Umpire Ross Emerson is well documented and needs no repetition. What is of note is that our entire team together with the team management stood firmly behind Murali. One has to place on record the many contributions made by past Sri Lankans like Dr. Buddy Reid and many others who came forward to ensure justice for Murali. This was in stark contrast to the apathy and indifference of some of the Sri Lankan cricket administrators.

As for the Australians it was of no concern to them that Murali had not faced any problems regarding his bawling action from many other reputed International Umpires. The only explanation that one could give is that some Australians with their obstinacy were not worried about ruining the career of a great bowler as long as it served their purpose which was winning at any cost. In fact the shameless umpiring particularly by Steve Randall deprived us of the Benzon & Hedges cup in Australia in 1995. Perhaps he has now time enough to reflect on all his misdeeds. It is to the credit of the scientific community that they were able to prove to the world that Murali was no 'chucker' and that the so called throwing was merely an illusion caused by a double jointed wrist formed at birth.

The greatness of Murali as I perceive it, is that despite all the obstacles he has been able to show the world what a talented bowler he is. He epitomizes success in adversity. I have played cricket and moved with him and watched him both on and off the field. To me he was a great asset who was able to raise the spirit of the team at any time. As his cCaptain and fellow cricketer I came to value his contributions obviously as a bowler, as a fielder and even as a batsman. When the occasion arose his advent to the batting crease as the number eleven batsman was an event in itself. One main purpose of cricket is after all to provide entertainment. This he provides in no small measure as a batsman. There is a great deal of anticipation when he approaches the batting crease, by his fellow batsman at the other end, by his team mates, by the commentators and most of all by the cricketing public. In fact in his role as a number eleven batsman he must be unique in the way he has scored runs through audacious strokes. Apart from those who enjoyed every bit of his batting it was no fun for some of the great bowlers who were the victims of his unorthodox strokes. One could always anticipate a 'Six' or a 'Four' from his lusty hitting rather than the rattling of the timber behind him as the bowler would have anticipated.

Murali's greatest contribution since the World Cup of 1996 came during our tour of England in 1998. In the limited over triangular against England and South Africa, he contributed a lot to our winning the Emirate's Cup. But it was in the solitary Test allowed by the MCC that Murali really showed his mettle by taking 16 wickets including 9 wickets in an innings. Murali simply mesmerized the English batsmen who had no answer to his wily bowling. He deservedly won the Man of the Match award despite other brilliant contributions by Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda De Silva. In fact my decision to put England in after winning the toss came for a lot of flak particularly because of the huge English total. I took this decision deliberately because I anticipated that Murali would have to bowl extensively in the two innings and therefore a follow-on would have been tiresome even for a work horse like Murali.

There was also the other consideration that if we batted, our batsmen would have to face a superb attack by English bowlers of the calibre of Angus Fraser & Darren Gough. David Gover was humble enough, at the end, to accept that my decision was correct after all.

I am confident that eventually Murali will join the 500 club and perhaps even the 600 and prove himself to be the best spin bowler in modern cricket. There are those who bank on Shane Warne but we in Sri Lanka and the subcontinent have shown that we could reduce Shane Warne to an ordinary bowler. There is lot of hype by the media where Shane Warne and other Australian cricketers are concerned. In as much as they can beat us in Australia, we can beat them in our own countries, as proved time and again. Recently a writer commented that Aravinda is the best batsman and Murali the best bowler in the Test era in Sri Lanka. There is no reason to contest this fact. But what is necessary is to safeguard and nourish them because they are national treasures who appear only once in a lifetime. Unfortunately the stupid treatment meted out to Aravinda by some sterile selectors does not indicate that the selectors go about their duty in the proper manner.

One word of advice to Murali. He should always remember that he is the emblem of a country and not of a particular club or community. The country loves him and it is incumbent on him to return that love and pride to the country and to the people.

Murali is an assassin with a perpetual smile on his face whether he bats, bowls or fields. 'Please keep it that way Murali'.

He fought all obstacles to become the world's best

Duleep Mendis   -  (Director Development BCCSL)

Let me first congratulate Murali for taking 400 Test wickets for Sri Lanka. It was not an easy task for him or any other bowler to have achieved this milestone. Especially for a bowler like him with a very un-orthodox bowling action.

He went through an extremely difficult period during his career but to his credit, this wily spinner with guts and courage fought all obstacles and today he is most deserving consolidated as the world's number one bowler. We must also applaud him for his determination and commitment for the game.

There were many an occasion that he represented his motherland even with injury, thus proving the fact, that he put his country before self.

Let me also wish him all success and best wishes for many more victims. I am sure, that if he continues in the same trend, he'll sans doubt, end up, at the pinnacle of the bowlers leader very soon.

It's not if, it's when

Dav Whatmore -  (Head coach BCCSL)

From the very first meeting of Murali (at the N.C.C. for training) in mid 1995, it was evident that this individual was one of the most focussed players that I had ever met. At that stage I had not even seen him bowl a single delivery and certainly wouldn't know him if I'd bumped into him in the street. Its just one of those rare feelings one gets when you come face to face with a champion.

Since that day my intuition was proved right time and again and whilst writing this piece I feel privileged to have been apart of his performances and to have witnessed some incredible hours of work.

A true champion will always see that the job gets done as efficiently as possible and with Murali it's never if, it's always when he will achieve various targets.

I will never cease to marvel at has competitive spirit when its time to go to work. The lad possesses an unending amount of physical and mental energy together with an unquenchable thirst for picking up wickets which qualifies him, in my opinion, as the most valuable player in the short history of Sri Lankan Test cricket.

Who will ever forget his performance in the one off Test match in England in August 1998. This off spinner epitomised tenacity based on a very special skill that took many hours of patience and shrewd captaincy to dismiss 16 opposition batsmen.

There has been many more of these herculean efforts around the cricketing globe providing many thousands of cricket followers the opportunity to witness first hand, the sort of stuff champions are made of. For the ones who have missed out, the news is good, as Murali has not come close to retirement age yet. There will be opportunities in the future!! So don't miss out!!

This guy remains ever eager and in the hot pursuit of Courtney Walsh's record, which I am certain, will be a matter of time!

Gamini Senadhira - (Sports Editor, The Sunday Leader)

It's with great pride and pleasure that The Sunday Leader present this supplement to its readers in honour of Muttiah Muralitharan's stupendous achievement.

Every Sri Lankan, young and old alike must be proud to own a magnificent cricketer of Muralitharan's calibre, who is now crowned as the 'King of Spin'.

After Sri Lanka's transition from tea nation to Test nation, winning the Cricket World Cup in 1996, producing exciting willow wielders of the likes of Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardena, Marvan Atapattu to name a few and above all to be in possession of the world's most feared bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, in a short history, after achieving ICC status, certainly proves the depth of talent that this tiny nation could boast of.

Murali in addition to becoming the youngest bowler ever, at 29 years to enter the elite 400 wickets club, had also erased many a world mark in his stride to achieve this feat in the Test arena.

Despite the obstacles that were placed before him, Murali, the spinning wizard, with true grit, determination and commitment, had proved that he is surely the greatest spinner the cricketing world has so far produced.

Judging by the way that he keeps on destroying Lanka's opponents in the international cricket scene, one can be rest assured that its' only a matter of time in seeing Muralitharan uprooting Courtney Walsh's middle stump, signalling the World record haul of 520 Test victims. One can also without any fear bet his last buck on Muttiah Muralitharan to become the very first members of the 600 wicket club. He is yet 29 years, another seven years of uninterrupted cricket, even might see him forming an impregnable 700 wicket club too. The Sunday Leader wishes him success after success to achieve this goal.

Trevor Chesterfield - Journalist

Ask any one in Galle these days what has been the most frustrating event of the week and the crowds who packed into this most spectacular and colourful Test venue, or perched atop the ramparts, will grumble how long it has taken Muttiah Muralitharan to take his 400th Test wicket. Why, little more than a year ago in balmy and less humid conditions he bagged his 300th in Durban and was presented with a set of spears for his efforts.

Anyone remembering Muralitharan's brush with Australian umpires over his action in the mid and late 1990s might have wondered whether the United Cricket Board gift was not a Freudian slip? Perhaps they could plead ignorance; unless of course when asked what he would like as a memento of the event a set of Zulu assegai came to mind. Aimed at Darrell Hair's back no doubt.

He seemed quite happy with his prize. The victim was South Africa's captain Shaun Pollock and when the then Sri Lanka Minister of Sports Lakshman Kiriella bounced into the stuffy Kingsmead media centre to ask the question who was Muralitharan's 300th victim, he was literally beaming. When greeted in Sinhalese by someone obviously not Sri Lankan his eyes popped almost as much as those of the 29-year-old Kandy-born off-spinner.

What the board's interim committee are likely to present Murali with in Galle to mark the 400th wicket, that of Zimbabwean Henry Olonga, should either be a chunk of granite from the famous 450-year-old fort or a well-worn patch of the Galle Test pitch on which he has taken so many wickets in recent years. Records indicate that Murali has collected more Test wickets in Galle and at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo, than any other bowler has managed at any other Test venue. And to move from 300 to 400 in a matter of fifty-five weeks, that is consistency for you.

When Olonga fell the first ball he faced he set up a possible hat-trick for Murali as Travis Friend, one of the bowler's five wickets, had been bowled the delivery before, the second of the bowler's fifty-ninth over. Not too surprisingly fireworks went off inside and outside the ground and those on the battlements, who get as good or better view of the game than those in the top tier of the big South-West Stand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground could barely contain their enthusiasm; it was a rare moment of pride

They had come to see their hero collect his reward and he did just that: the youngest and fastest of the seven bowlers to reach the 400 mark. And the way the Test programme is worked out; there is no reason why he cannot take his 500th before the start of the next World Cup in South Africa. Well, perhaps that is a tough ambitious but apart from being the youngest, he is also the fastest with seventy-two Tests.

It is why, for a start, he is the record-breaking bowler he is. Modest, gentle yet not too shy to ask a flight attendant (well that's what they call cabin crew these days) for a date while in Cape Town during the 2001 New Year Test at Newlands. He is that sort of guy. It hurts though when Sri Lanka fared so badly and got beaten as badly as they did in South Africa.

What this might suggest is Sri Lanka's away record, other than England, Pakistan and New Zealand is similar to that of India's. They are becoming poor travellers and the visits to England later this year as well as South Africa in October/November and then Australia in December suggests Sri Lanka should know their skill and capability outside the country. It is far from easy.

Muralitharan is seen as the one world-class bowler who knows his way around most of the top and not so great Test venues and what is needed from him is to spice up Sri Lanka's cause. It would have been far more interesting, if not entertaining, had Muralitharan not needed to put up with the dicey Kandy weather as rain and more rain has twice robbed him of the possibility of signposting his first fiftieth wicket and even his 300th.

Lucknow instead of Ahmedabad would have been the venue for the fiftieth wicket; his twelfth instead of his thirteenth Test. And the SSC and not Durban's dowdy Kingsmead could have been the venue for his 300th wicket: the one difference here is that it would have, anyway, been a South African, such is the way the itineraries are plotted these days. At least he was spared having to wait until the tour of England to complete the job. It was at The Oval where he managed his 200th. There is little doubt that should his fitness continue he will go well past Shane Warne by the end of the year.

As a matter for the record, Muralitharan's fiftieth wicket took only thirteen Tests, the 100, twenty-seven and the 150th wicket thirty six Tests.

Roshan Abeysinghe - (Commentator)

He could be compared to a rare and priceless possession. A rarity. A genius. The list could go on and will be endless in its mention of Sri Lankan's master craftsman in the trade of spin Muthiah Muralitharan. Murali as he is fondly known to his fans and commentators and media men, and Muri to his team mates is no doubt an extraordinary cricketer. Born in Kandy and educated at that well known school, St. Anthony's College in Kandy, Murali like any youngster was dreaming to bowl fast. And that was how he started his career only to be shaped by the well known coach from the Kandy region, Sunil Fernando. Sunil too a great cricketer in his heyday, didn't need too long to recognise the talent of this tiny tot. And he was promptly made an off spinner with huge results.

In was during the year 1991 that Muralitharan shot to the lime light. He was so dominant in school cricket that none of the school boy batsmen were capable of facing him with confidence. I think that was the year my old school, St. Joseph's College, lost to St. Anthony's College, Kandy, after a very long time. No prices for any guesses as for who the destroyer was. It was none other than Murali himself. In that game, if I am not mistaken, two other youngsters who later presented their country with distinction also played. They were, Chaminda Vaas of St. Joseph's and Ruwan Kalpage of St. Anthony's. The story about Muralitharan and his exploits spread like wild fire in the country. And I recall one of my friends speaking very highly of the young lad and specifically mentioning of his cheerfulness. And it was then that I decided to go and witness this smiling assassin. I must tell you, that he was no different from today. Bowling with much less variations which is understandable, Murali was able even then, to turn the ball a mile. As I watched in absolute delight a school game he played in Colombo and the manner, he rolled over that batting side, I was convinced that day that this boy was some body special. Murali on that day too looked in ability a man amongst boys. As a school boy too, he carried with him a tremendous self confidence and belief in himself which I thought, I saw in his body language which is prevalent even today.

After his sensational entry into the big league of Test and one day cricket and his exploits there, one can only sympathise with him for what he has been subjected to on the field of play down under. Unfairly accused for chucking by the Australian umpires Hair & Emerson in 1995 and Emerson in 1999, Muralitharan will no doubt recall with gratitude, the role former Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranathunga, played particularly in 1999 when he was called by Emerson. The way Ranathunga stuck his neck out for Murali, and won his battle exemplified what the whole of Sri Lanka has lacked for some time and the real cause for the unfortunate war which has plagued this beautiful Island. Harmony between races.