Great honour from team for Muralidharan

Darwin: Sri Lanka will dedicate their two-Test series against Australia to world record wicket-taker Muttiah Muralidharan who withdrew from the tour.

Sri Lanka captain Maravan Atapattu admitted Sunday the tourists would struggle against the world champions without the controversial off-spinner. “I’d love to have him here but he’s made a personal decision and we have to wear it,” Atapattu said at the team’s arrival news conference in Darwin.

“When we are on the field he takes most of the burden, bowling 40 to 50 overs in an innings. Playing without him is difficult and unusual. The whole team will miss him. But it is a big challenge for every one of us to come out with better performances.

“This is one occasion where we can show gratitude towards him by performing well.”

Muralidharan, who has been called for throwing on two previous visits to Australia, withdrew last week following an investigation into his bowling action. He was furious when Australian Prime Minister John Howard called him a ‘chucker’.

The 32-year-old is the most successful bowler in history, with 527 Test wickets. Australian Shane Warne trails him by 10 wickets. Warne is also doubtful for July’s two-Test series because of a broken bone in his hand.

Lanka coach John Dyson said Murali had experienced a traumatic few months after the ICC ruled his arm straightened while bowling his doosra leg-break and was thus illegal.

“He feels he’s not ready to play these Tests and from that point of view I respect his decision,” said Dyson, a former Australia batsman.

But he added: “We can put Australia under enormous pressure. While they won the series in Sri Lanka 3-0 (earlier this year), in every one of the those games they were under pressure and had to do something special to pull out of it.”

Atapattu was hopeful one of the other two spinners — such as Upul Chandana or Rangana Herath — would step up to the mark.Sri Lanka’s opening tour-match here against a Northern Territory XI starts on Thursday while the first Test starts on July 1.