Murali is still a ‘chucker’: Australian umpire Ross Emerson
Ross Emerson, the former Australian umpire who charged Sri Lankan spin wizard http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157 for “chucking” in 1996 and 1999, feels that the off-spinner does not deserve to be called as the ‘most prolific wicket-taker of all time’. Umpire Ross Emerson, who was standing in his debut ODI, no-balled the spinner on seven occasions, three times in his first over and twice in his second and third over each, on the 5th January, 1996 in Brisbane to become the most controversial umpire in the world.
The Australian umpire said that even after a 15 year gap, he has not changed his opinion about Murali’s bowling action. “I haven't changed my views in 15 years. He doesn't deserve the record”, claimed Emerson. Emerson was banned from international umpiring soon after the no-balling incident with Murali on seven occasions in a single one-day game against England in Adelaide, 1999.
Affectionately known as Murali, the Sri Lankan spin wizard is the leading wicket taker in one-day as well as Test cricket. He has an unmatchable record of 792 Test scalps along with 515 ODI wickets. It was due to this feat that Wisden declared him as the leading cricketer in the world for 2006 and was rated as the greatest ever test match bowler for the year 2002. However, the Australian umpire disagrees.
“You couldn't compare his record to Shane Warne's – no one ever doubted the legality of Warne's action. Murali was a great competitor and a great bowler but a lot of the time he just didn't bowl within the limits of the law”, said Emerson while talking to the media.
Muralitharan has decided to retire from Test cricket by the end of the Galle Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 that will start from July 18. The bowling action of Muralitharan was scanned for the first time when Darrell Hair, another Australian umpire, objected of his bowling during Sri Lanka's tour of Australia in 1995-96. He objected the spinner for throwing the ball which was why he was no-balled on a number of occasions. Along with Emerson, Hair insists that his decision on that day was correct and he stands with his opinion.
Darrell Hair still reserves his decision of 1995-96 when he said that he had no problems with this “distinguished wicket-taker of all time” record but the change in rules made by ICC later on justified the decision of the Australian umpires who had objected to Murali’s bowling action back then.
“I have no angst over him holding the record but the fact that the rules had to be changed to handle bowlers like that vindicated my actions and the actions of other umpires who called him”, Hair said.
Darrell Hair claimed that the change in rule that has permitted bowlers to bend their arm up to 15 degrees benefitted a couple of bowlers in international cricket including Muralitharan. He said that the rule is providing undue benefit to some big culprits in cricket. Hair added that the abrogated rule, where the bowler could not bend the arm at all, was the same for anyone without any exemption and the ICC should follow that.
Muralitharan, 38, who started his international cricket career in 1992 against Australia, faced a lot of debate from the cricketing community about his weird and unorthodox bowling action. It was just after three years of his debut when the prolific spinner was called for throwing by Hair when the Sri Lankan team was touring Australia in 1995-96.
The ICC, considering Hair’s objection, asked Murali to go through a biomechanical analysis. The analysis concluded that the action of the bowler produced an 'optical illusion of throwing'.
But despite getting his suspected bowling action cleared from the International Cricket Council, Murali faced the charges again in 1998-99 and 2004. Emerson in the 1998-99 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 tour objected him of “chucking”. As a result, Murali went through tests in Perth and England and was cleared once again. In 2004, Murali faced the charges of having a suspected action once again but the Sri Lankan team did not bother.
He faced the same charges in 2004 but the Sri Lankan player ignored all such calls and kept on taking wickets. As a result, he left behind the 519-wicket mark of Courtney Walsh to become the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. Murali is just eight wickets short of complete 800-wickets in test history. The Galle test would be the last chance for the leading wicket-taker to cross the 800-wicket mark.
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