The two-Test series against Bangladesh has been time for Muttiah Muralitharan to pile up one milestone after another. The first Test was his 100th, during which he also became the first bowler to take 1000 international wickets; then, on the third day of the second Test at Bogra, he became only the second bowler – after Shane Warne – to go past the 600-wicket barrier in Tests. While Warne needed 126 matches to get to the landmark, this is only Murali’s 101st Test, an indication of just how prolific he has been.As the table below indicates, Murali has been improving his stats incessantly since starting out more than 13 years ago. His first 100 wickets took him 27 matches; since then, none of the other 100-wicket milestones have required more than 16 matches. His last 100 wickets took him just 14 Tests, during which period he took eight five-fors.
Murali’s progression to 600
Wickets
Matches
Average
5/ 10-for
100
27
31.49
6/ 0
200
42
26.90
16/ 2
300
58
25.17
24/ 5
400
72
23.53
33/ 10
500
87
22.89
42/ 13
600
101
22.35
50/ 14
Murali arrived on the scene as a big-spinning offbreak bowler, but since his early days he has added plenty of bows to his armoury, which have made him a far more potent bowler. In his first 50 matches, he got his wickets at less than five per Test; in his next 51, that has gone up to more than seven.
Two halves to Murali’s career
Wickets
Average
5/ 10-fors
First 50 Tests
245
26.36
18/ 3
Last 51 Tests
355
19.58
32/ 11
As his career summary shows, Murali has performed well against most sides. The only teams against whom he averages more than 30 are Australia and India, against whom he played most of the matches early in his career. He has also been at the forefront of most Sri Lankan wins, with 297 wickets at an incredible average of 15.48. If Sri Lanka win at Bogra – as they seem likely to do – then Murali will become only the third bowler, after Warne and Glenn McGrath – to take 300 wickets in victories. Currently Warne leads the way with 461 such wickets, while McGrath has 393.
Murali the matchwinner
Tests/ Wkts
Average
5/ 10-for
In wins
37/ 297
15.48
27/ 11
In draws
30/ 129
26.84
10/ 2
In defeats
33/ 167
31.19
12/ 1
Among bowlers with at least 150 wickets in wins, only Richard Hadlee and Imran Khan have a better average.
Scorecard East Zone salvaged some pride at the end of a disappointing Deodhar Trophy campaign with a high-voltage batting performance and hunted down a mammoth target of 347 at Rajkot. Mahendra Singh Dhoni got them off to a fantastic start with a fiery 87 off 67 balls before Rohan Gavaskar and Sanjib Sanyal carried on the momentum and took them closer to victory. Gavaskar’s unbeaten 89 piloted them towards the target and East stunningly got home with an over to spare. Earlier, Suresh Raina and Syed Abbas Ali had propelled Central Zone to the massive total with both notching up splendid centuries. They added an exact 200 for the fourth-wicket stand as Central gave themselves a great chance of staying in contention for the trophy. The defeat, though, meant thatthey had no chance of winning the title. Scorecard A fine allround batting effort saw North Zone register their second win of the tournament, with a bonus point to boot, and head the points table at the end of the penultimate round of matches. Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Ajay Jadeja produced half-centuries and a surge towards the end boosted North to a healthy 288 at the end of their innings. West Zone, who could have sealed the championship with a victory, began solidly as Parthiv Patel anchored the chase with a cheeky 56. But a middle-order collapse, when they slumped from 160 for 3 to 201 all out, thwarted their hopes and North snapped up the bonus point and sneaked to the top of the table.North now take on South Zone in the final league match on February 4 and a victory there will ensure them the title. West will need to beat Central on the same day at Rajkot and hope that North slip up in their encounter at Valsad. If West fail, though, South Zone could beat North and sneak the title through the back door.
Brett Lee has enlisted the help of Dennis Lillee as he attempts to overcome a “tough little period” in his career.In the absence of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, Lee had been expected to spearhead Australia’s bowling in the recent Test series against India. But he managed just eight wickets in two matches, and suffered the humiliation of being hit for 201 runs in a single innings at Sydney.He was subsequently overlooked for the VB Series, and watched from the sidelines as his replacement Brad Williams bowled Australia to victory over Zimbabwe on Sunday.”People are asking questions about my pace, about no-balls and the fact that I’ve been hit for a lot of runs in these past two Tests,” said Lee, who bowled 37 no-balls in Melbourne and Sydney. “Bowling 18 no-balls in an innings is unacceptable, there is no excuse. I hope Dennis can help me solve the problem.”Lillee, whose fast-bowling academy in Chennai has helped to transform India’s fortunes, believes Lee’s problems may stem from the fact Australia does not have a bowling coach, unlike both its rivals in the current one-day series. Australia’s former left-arm seamer Bruce Reid is working with both India and Zimbabwe.Lee flew Lillee from Perth to Sydney after last week’s fourth Test to work with him at a training session. Apart from injuries and the occasional spell on the sidelines, Lee has been a regular in the Australia side since his debut against India four years ago. He has since developed into an intimidating, if unreliable, back-up to McGrath and Jason Gillespie, but is finding the next step up a hard one to take.
Positivism was the message England captain Nasser Hussain was throwing out after his side’s record one-day loss to New Zealand at WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington.Despite the 155-run margin Hussain said he firmly believes he has the players to beat New Zealand.”Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said.But he did acknowledge that the performance yesterday had not been good enough.”Today was a poor performance, there is no excuse for it all the way through. It was not a 90 all out wicket and it is not a 240 wicket, it is somewhere between those two.”Maybe if we kept them down to 180, and fielded a little better, and put in the energy that New Zealand put in we might have batted a bit more sensibly. But all departments were not good enough today,” he said.While the pitch had done a bit all day, New Zealand’s bowlers had put the ball in the right areas more often than the England attack, their fielders took better catches than England. And if things had been done better, New Zealand could have been 30/4.Hussain did not think some marginal umpiring decisions had impacted on the side.”We could have had 15 decisions go for us today and we’d have lost,” he said.
Hussain- we’ll pick ourselves up Photo Reuters
The formula was obvious, after all, as Hussain told the press conference, two games ago the English media had been saying England were a good side.The team did not go from being a good side to a bad one in two games, he said.”One thing that we have done in the last few years is we have picked ourselves up, we will have a chat and try to pick ourselves up.”It is part and parcel of being an England cricketer. You do have days like this and you have to pick yourself up. I firmly we have the ability in that room to beat New Zealand otherwise I wouldn’t be here and we showed that for large parts of the game the other day.”We were a better side the other day, today we weren’t and therefore I have to remind them of that and therefore ask them to be honest with me and ask them why we were all so flat and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”You have to focus in and do our job and not enough of us did that today,” he said.Hussain also explained the replacement of wicket-keeper James Foster by Marcus Trescothick. It had been to give Foster a break.”James Foster has been tired the last two or three days and he has talked to a couple of coaches about it.”He’s a young lad who’s come out of University where he played 15 games in a year and now he’s playing 50 games in a year so he was feeling it a little bit so we rested him today in the hope he’ll have fresh legs later on in the series, whether it be in the one-dayers or test matches or whatever,” he said.”Owais Shah came in because he’s a good young prospect and we’ll readdress the side when we look at conditions in Napier.”
Inspite of a seven wicket haul by Bengal’s S Pearuddin, a fighting centuryby S Banik helped Tripura salvage a draw on the third andfinal day of their East Zone Under-14 match againstBihar at the East Calcutta District Sports Council Ground inCalcutta on Thursday.Needing 249 for a win, Tripura made a disastrous start when they lostopener SD Burma (0) caught by by Himadri Pal off Pearuddin in the secondover. His partner D Dutta (5) departed soon after when he fell leg beforeto Pearuddin. Then S Banik (114) and Subhrajit Roy (12) took the score on to48 when the latter fell leg before to Sarnendu Pal. With the score boardreading 48 for 3, D Choudury (14) joined Banik to forge a 44 run fourthwicket stand in 12.2 overs. Then two quick wickets fell.But the partnership that saved the match for Tripura was the 63 run seventhwicket stand between Banik and BD Burma (8) which came in 26.2 overs. Banikfell after a 258 minute stay at the crease, faced 200 balls and hit19 boundaries.Thereafter BD Burma held the fort for Tripura. Burma was the ninth wicketto fall. But by that time he had stayed at the centre for 112 minutes andfaced 100 balls to score 8 runs. Tripura then trudged along to 194 for ninewhen the day’s play ended.Earlier on the second day, the Tripura first innings folded up at 159,giving Bengal a lead of 122 runs. In reply Bengal scored 126 runs in theirsecond innings, when the skipper Himadri Pal declared the innings. OpenersA Bhowmick (21) and Arindam Ghosh (21) added 29 runs in 7.3 overs. Then SMukherjee (28), S Gond (12) and S Pearuddin (12) chipped in with usefulcontributions with the bat.
West Ham could be without three key men for tonight’s crunch-match with Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 second leg, with the Hammers currently one-goal down on aggregate.
You’d expect them to have an advantage of their home crowd tonight, but with star winger Jarrod Bowen missing, the job will just be even more difficult than it was before – and it could become even harder should two key players also join the English winger on the sidelines.
Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell are both awaiting late fitness tests to see whether they will be able to take part in the game tonight, after suffering injuries at the weekend against Aston Villa.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly if they’re fit,” West Ham manager David Moyes said yesterday. “They’ve done a little bit of light training. We’re trying to find out if they are fit, that’s really what it is – we’re trying to give them every opportunity to be fit.
“They didn’t train with the team today (Wednesday), but they have done a little bit with the fitness coaches. We’ll wait and assess them tomorrow to see how they are.
“I’ve not named the team and I’ll probably not do that until late tomorrow [Thursday] to see how they are.”
This news will undoubtedly leave the Irons boss nervous, especially as Antonio is currently the Hammers’ only natural option at striker, and after having another solid season for the East London club with him scoring eight Premier League goals in 28 games, Moyes will find it very difficult to replace him if he isn’t able to play tonight.
It’s not just his goals output that the Hammers will miss though, as he has also created seven more in the league this season, making on average 1.5 key passes per game – showing how important his creativity is for the club too.
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Meanwhile, 32-year-old Cresswell has started 22 games in the top flight, scoring once and setting up three, proving he is also still a key asset to the team, and his leadership will surely be missed in such an important game like this one.
In other news: Moyes must unleash “beautiful” £17.5m West Ham gem today, he creates “magical” moments
Mitchell Johnson ended a Test he was not sure he would play in with anenhanced reputation and the hope India’s batsmen would see him as a threatfor the rest of the series. A mid-match chat with Troy Cooley, Australia’sbowling coach, helped Johnson achieve more swing in the second innings andhis burst of three wickets finished the game late on the fourth day.However, Johnson had to survive a close battle to appear on Boxing Day afterthe push for Shaun Tait grew when he replaced the left-armer for theChappell-Hadlee Series. Johnson’s variety and tight control, which was afeature of the home fast bowlers in Melbourne, were crucial elements asIndia were dismissed for 196 and 161.”There was a bit of concern there [about my spot],” he said after the teamhad completed a recovery session at a Melbourne beach. “It took me bysurprise, being dropped from the one-day squad.”While Australia’s spin options are limited, there is strength in thefast-bowling stocks and the back-up is led by Tait, who remained in the 12-man squad for the second Test. There will be no way infor Tait in Sydney after the 337-run win in Melbourne, but Johnson is stillnot feeling secure about his place. After 11 wickets in three Tests he hasmade a promising start and is safe for a couple of games at least. Johnsondelivered an immaculate line outside off stump at the MCG, which was theplan to frustrate the Indians into rash shots, and he gave away less thantwo runs an over.In the first innings he opened with five maidens to Rahul Dravid and afternot picking up any wickets or much swing he talked to Cooley. The upshot wasa straighter wrist position on day four and some dramatic movement. MS Dhoniand Anil Kumble were caught behind in the same over, setting up a speedyfinish, and Johnson was proud to seal the win by bowling RP Singh.”Getting three wickets was a bit of a relief,” he said. “In the firstinnings I didn’t have any luck, so it was good to get those wickets at theend and to get it reversing was a good sign.”Fourteen victims in the one-day series in India helped demystify the opposition and he was notintimidated bowling to Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly. “Hopefully theIndians are thinking about me,” he said. “I just tried to back myself andnot think about who was at the other end. Once you start to think about whoyou are bowling to and how good they are you might struggle a bit.”Australia squad Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brett Lee, Brad Hogg, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Shaun Tait.
Umar Gul, the Pakistan fast bowler, is hopeful of returning to bowling in a week’s time after making sufficient recovery from an ankle injury which ruled him out of the tour of South Africa. Gul and Shoaib Akhtar were sent home from the tour to appear before a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) medical commission.”There is no pain in my ankle at the moment but the physiotherapist at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has suggested that since my calf muscles are a bit weak, I need to do some exercises to develop them,” Gul told . “That should allow me to resume bowling in the next four or five days.”Gul was expected to play the second Test at Port Elizabeth after missing the first, but the team management decided against it, fearing that he might aggravate the injury before the World Cup. Gul added that his prime target was proving his fitness before the selectors announce the World Cup squad.”Playing the World Cup is one of my dreams,” he said. “In order to represent the country in the mega event with full force and fitness, I will be making all out efforts from hereon.”Gul has also signed a contract with English county Gloucestershire as their overseas player this season.
Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner, is set to retire from first-class cricket after 23 years in the game.”I am retiring from first-class cricket. I am specially thankful to Sanjay Jagdale, the national selector, my parents, my wife and to the people of Indore for their support and encouragement, which I have received during my nearly 23 years of career in first-class, Tests and one-day international matches,” Hirwani told PTI in Indore.Hirwani, 37, burst onto the international scene with a record 16 wickets in his first match, against West Indies at Chennai in 1987-88, and after four Tests he had taken 36 wickets, the most by any bowler at this stage of their career. A string of overseas tours followed, but Hirwani was unable to repeat that success in unfamiliar conditions. With the success of a certain Anil Kumble, Hirwani found it hard to sustain a place in the Indian side.In 17 Tests for India – the last of which came against South Africa at Kolkata in 1996-97 – Hirwani picked up 66 wickets, while in the one-day format he took a modest 23 from 18 matches. However, in domestic games he was a stalwart, finishing with 723 wickets from 167 matches, over 400 of which came for his home state of Madhya Pradesh. In the 1996-97 season he played for Bengal, taking 29 wickets at 23.13.Hirwani said he plans to set up an academy in Indore exclusively for grooming legspinners, adding that he has urged the MP government to provide assistance.
Andrew Symonds and James Hopes passed fitness tests for the one-day tour of New Zealand today while Matthew Hayden will have his immediate future sealed tomorrow. Hayden continues to recover from pneumonitis, a swelling condition of the lungs, and Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, has left the decision on whether he will join the squad until the last minute.”Matthew’s condition has improved and we will give him every chance to be fit by waiting until tomorrow,” Hohns said. The team leaves for the five-match tour on Wednesday and both Symonds and Hopes were assessed in Brisbane today.Symonds, who injured his Achilles tendon in the first VB Series final against Pakistan, was the greater concern while Hopes, the new Australia allrounder, complained of hamstring tightness during Queensland’s ING Cup loss to Western Australia on Friday. “Symonds and Hopes have been declared fit to travel to New Zealand after passing rigorous tests,” Hohns said.Australia play a Twenty20 international against New Zealand at Auckland on Thursday before the first 50-over match at Wellington on Saturday. The series concludes at Napier on March 5.