Muralitharan injured

By Ted Corbett

COLOMBO, FEB. 12. Sri Lanka has been struck by a blow which changes the balance of its forthcoming Test series against England. Muttiah Muralitharan, not only its most important bowler but one of the finest spin bowlers of the moment, is almost certainly out of the first Test which begins on February 22 in Galle, and may miss the whole three-Test series.

Murali has again injured the groin that kept him out of the final Test in South Africa; and a second groin injury is regarded as much more serious than the first. So unless the diagnosis is found to be incorrect it is more likely that Murali will aim for fitness at the start of the English season with Lancashire in April rather than the Test series in February and March.

The questions which is already being raised on his home island - where it is recognised that he is the only match- winning bowler in the side - is why Murali was not only asked to complete his overs after he had been helped off the field but why he was required to bat for a side which led the series 4-0 at the start of the final match against New Zealand. It was eventually defeated by 13 runs and when he went out to bat there was still a chance of victory. But why the coach Dav Whatmore and the captain Sanath Jayasuriya sent him to the crease cannot be solved until the party return to Sri Lanka later this week. Short term expedience seems to have been seen as more important than the long-term gain.

Those England players who know Murali from his days with Lancashire have quickly made the suggestion that his own keenness must have been responsible for the decision to play on. At Old Trafford he exhibited a sense of loyalty that sometimes amazed and sometimes shamed his teammates. This man is not a superstar but a cricketer determined to do his best for his side. On this occasion it appears to have cost him the whole of a Test series.

England, which is waiting for confirmation of Murali's injury before deciding if it warrants a change in its plans, gained enormous confidence from the news when it reached Sri Lanka as it won its first tour match against the Board President's team by 155 runs. It arrived on the island in an upbeat mood and was insistent at a ``Meet the Press'' dinner hosted by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Sunday night that all the talk in its dressing room was of victory not trying to draw. With three successive series wins behind it - against Zimbabwe, West Indies and Pakistan - England is right to be cocky but it is a new experience for it after ten years of misery and it needs to control its joie de vive.

For all those successes England has its problems. On the one hand it has the rise and rise of Craig White, who began the tour of Pakistan with question marks against all his skills, but who is now seen as a man who can change the course of a match with bat and ball, as well as being an athletic fielder. On the other hand there must be a worry about the status of Alec Stewart who was bewildered against the less-than-Test-class bowling in the Board President's match and who made scores of 3,27 not out, 13, 22, 29 and 5 in Pakistan.

Of course, this experienced batsman-wicket-keeper need not fear the axe; he is too valuable, with too many Tests in his background and too recently the side's captain for him to be dropped. Paul Nixon, the deputy keeper, is only in the party in case Stewart breaks a finger and there is no question that he will suddenly be promoted over Stewart's head.

But for the whole England party the news of Murali's injury is a relief. They know, as every other side in the world knows, that on his day he can repeat his most recent feats against England: 16 wickets at the Oval in 1998 when he dominated the match from start to finish.

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