Muralitharan.Org

MURALI IS THE DON OF TEST BOWLING SAYS WISDEN

Sri Lankan spinner, Muttiah Muralidaran, has been named by Wisden, alongside Don Bradman as the two greatest players in the history of Test cricket.

Wisden - the cricketer’s Bible - judged the levels of a player’s performance against the strength of the opposition, career length, and the importance of each contribution.

In his typical modest fashion, Murali said “I’m very surprised because No. 1 is a great honour and I don’t rank myself so high.” Now in Australia, preparing for his part in the One-Day series on December 22, he reflected on his previous tours in a pertinent fashion: “What I have gone through shouldn’t happen to any other bowler, whether it be Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar. It is very hard to keep going when everyone is looking at you all the time, but everything is past and gone.”

Our congratulations to him, and to all these esteemed players who employ the art of cricket

Batsmen

1 Don Bradman (Australia)

2 Sachin Tendulkar (India)

3 Viv Richards (West Indies)

4 Gary Sobers (West Indies)

5 Allan Border (Australia)

6 Jack Hobbs (England)

7 Ken Barrington (England)

8 Sunil Gavaskar (India)

9 Greg Chappell (Australia)

10 Brian Lara (West Indies)

Bowlers

1 Muttiah Muralidaran (Sri Lanka)

2 Richard Hadlee (New Zealand)

3 Syd Barnes (England)

4 Shane Warne (Australia)

5 Clarrie Grimmett (Australia)

6 Glenn McGrath (Australia)

7 Dennis Lillee (Australia)

8 Malcolm Marshall (West Indies)

9 Imran Khan (Pakistan)

10 Courtney Walsh (West Indies)

WISDEN LEADING ONE-DAY BOWLERS

February 8 2003: Wisden have just released their annual report on the best One-Day International bowler who has played 20 games or more, for the period ending February 1, 2003.

Murali has done it again, and on cold statistics alone he is the form bowler in the One Day game. He tops the averages at only 12.62, has the fourth-best strike rate (but still the best for 20 games or more!), has the least runs against him per over, is ninth on the wicket-taker’s list and is the only bowler to be in the top ten in those four categories.