Murali doesn't deserve the record: Emerson

Published>Thu, Jul 08 10 07:27 PM

Sydney, July 8 (IANS) Ross Emerson, the Australian umpire who in 1999 called Muttiah Murlitharan for chucking, feels the Sri Lankan spin wizard doesn't deserve to hold the record of highest wicket-taker in Tests.

Muralitharan is set to retire as the most prolific bowler in Tests with 792 wickets, after the first Test against India at Galle beginning July 18.

'I haven't changed my view in 15 years - he doesn't deserve the record,' Emerson, banished from international cricket after no-balling Muralitharan in a one-day game against England in Adelaide in January 1999, was quoted as saying the Daily Telegraph Thursday.

Emerson in 1996 had no-balled Muralitharan seven times in a one-dayer at the Gabba.

'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,' Emerson maintained.

Darrell Hair, the umpire most famously associated with Muralitharan after he no-balled the off-spinner in the Boxing Day Test of 1995, too, insists he was right in his decision.

'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 action and of the other umpires who called him,' Hair said.

Cricket's lawmakers struggled to come to grips with debate over Muralitharan's action. After tests in 2004 revealed most bowlers illegally straightened their arms the law was changed from allowing no straightening to a 15-degree tolerance level.

'Once they changed the rules and made it legal for bowlers to bend their arm to 15 percent they gave an advantage to a couple of bowlers (Muralitharan included) who could get something extra from that rule. I would rather see the rule as it was where you couldn't bend your arm at all. That would mean everyone was the same,' Hair said.

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