Dont really follow cricket that much, but with Muralitharans history as a suspected "chucker" will people accepted his record?
but as Kerry O'Keefe once said, "If Boy George went for testing at the University of Western Australia they'd say he was straight...!"His bowling action has been cleared time and time again over the years.
His bowling action has been cleared time and time again over the years. It would be nice if people could just accept that he is one of the finest spin bowlers the game has ever seen, who fully deserves his record, rather than trotting out the usual bollocks about him throwing the ball.
I know that this is going to open up a can of worms, but I'll say it nonetheless...
Muralitharan is a good bowler. What makes him great is his physical deformity; the elbow that can't straighten, allied with the fact that his wrist is double jointed, mean that he can turn the ball either way and it is ridiculously difficult to pick it.
For my money, Warne is/was the more talented bowler. The manner in which he toys with batsmen is fantastic.
Yes, but only after they have altered the definition of throwing and the degree of bend allowed in the arm.
Yes he is a good bowler, but the ICC did change the rules so the arm could bend up to 15 degrees, opposed to 5 degrees to accomodate him.
But his arm was shown to bend less than the permitted 5 degrees for a spinner with his stock delivery, it was only the doosra where it was bending 14 degrees. Glenn McGrath, for example, was routinely bending his arm more than the 10 degrees allowed for a fast bowler yet was not being called for throwing.
The main reason for his record being a joke is that unlike Warne who constantly faced the worlds best batsmen all of his career, Murali copped alot of cheap wickets against the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
If Warne had been bowling to such average opposition as often as Murali he'd have taken 1000 wickets.
Look at Murali's milestone wickets
150 vs Zimbabwe
350 vs Bangladesh
400 vs Zimbabwe
550 vs Bangaldesh
600 vs Bangladesh
700 vs Bangladesh
And besides his 200th wicket at the Oval the rest of his milestones were almost entirely on average subcontinent pitches.
To be the best you need to constantly play against the best, Murali never did that.
Murali played 27 test for 163 wickets from Bangaldesh/Zimbabwe contests.
Warne I think played 1 test vs Zimbawe and 1-2 vs Bangladesh.
Murali's record is a farce.
The main reason for his record being a joke is that unlike Warne who constantly faced the worlds best batsmen all of his career, Murali copped alot of cheap wickets against the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
If Warne had been bowling to such average opposition as often as Murali he'd have taken 1000 wickets.
Look at Murali's milestone wickets
150 vs Zimbabwe
350 vs Bangladesh
400 vs Zimbabwe
550 vs Bangaldesh
600 vs Bangladesh
700 vs Bangladesh
And besides his 200th wicket at the Oval the rest of his milestones were almost entirely on average subcontinent pitches.
To be the best you need to constantly play against the best, Murali never did that.
Murali played 27 test for 163 wickets from Bangaldesh/Zimbabwe contests.
Warne I think played 1 test vs Zimbawe and 1-2 vs Bangladesh.
Murali's record is a farce.
That scarcely makes it a farce; he can only take wickets in the games that he's playing in. I think taking 16 wickets on a good batting strip at the Oval proves that he's scarcely a dud bowler. And on your own figures, he's taken 547 wickets against the better test sides, in far fewer tests than the likes of Warne, Walsh, Wasim and McGrath.
Someone on TMS raised the very good point that Warne never had to bowl at the Australians (obviously) by some distance the best batting side in the world - something that Murali has done. So you could say that Warne's previous record was a farce as it was achieved against lesser sides.![]()