da spicy bet： Champion off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, has now finished his secondsuccessful stint with Lancashire, but there are concerns that his long-termfitness may have been jeopardised by non-stop cricket
Rex Clementine12-Jul-2001Champion off-spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, has now finished his secondsuccessful stint with Lancashire, but there are concerns that his long-termfitness may have been jeopardised by non-stop cricket.Murali signed off in style by claiming nine wickets in his last appearancefor Lancashire against Kent. He ended the season claiming 45 wickets in justsix games at an average of 18.48 per wicket. Only former English testbowler, Devon Malcolm, has more wickets so far in the CricInfo Championship,and he has taken his 46 in nine matches.Murali’s figures for the Lancashire make impressive reading: he has bowled446 overs, 158 of which were maidens and the English batsmen have only beenable to score an average of 1.88 runs per over. He’s also grabbed fourfive-wicket hauls in an innings and one 10-wicket match bag.He reaped greater rewards two years ago, taking 66 wickets from just sixgames, including an amazing eight five-wicket hauls and 10 wickets on fiveout of the seven occasions he played.This time playing in soggy April and May possibly handicapped him. In 1999he played in dryer conditions towards the end of the season. His noveltyvalue has also worn off and batsmen have developed strategies for keepinghim at bay, most famously Nasser Hussain’s successful policy of ‘kicking himor hitting him.’In 1999 Murali may also have benefited from the comforting presence of DavWhatmore. This time he played under Bob Simpson, the former Australiancaptain, who was the Australian coach during the controversial 1995-96 Testseries when Murali was first called for throwing.Muralitharan certainly worked hard for his wickets, bowling 50 over marathonspells on more than one occasion, and they are fears that he could sufferfrom fatigue, as Sri Lanka embarks on a busy international schedule.He broke down last year in South Africa with a groin injury before the finalTest, ending a 25 run of consecutive Test Matches. Another groin injurysustained in New Zealand left him ‘undercooked’ for the First Test Matchagainst England in Galle.His sudden injury problems led to the Sri Lankan physiotherapist AlexKontouri calling for his workload to be reduced to protect his long termfuture. He has now been playing for five months on the trot and will not beable to put his feet up until October.