England in awe of Murali's mysteries

13 April 2012

They talked a good game and they fought a decent fight until the last round. In the final analysis, though, it was not even one man who did for England in Sri Lanka, but one ball.

From the moment Michael Vaughan and co realised Muttiah Muralitharan was not kidding when he spoke of having perfected a new delivery, these visitors were hanging on by their fingertips.

England went perilously close to falling in Galle and badly needed the safety net provided by Vaughan's outstanding century when the series reached Kandy.

But here in Colombo, having won a toss that challenged them to try to take the initiative rather than mount a rearguard action, England were plummeting to earth from the moment Murali dismissed Marcus Trescothick late on the first morning of the Third Test.

Replays will show the fateful ball was an off-break that turned and bounced before being edged to slip - an almost routine delivery.

Murali has put so much doubt and uncertainty into English minds, however, that even a nonturning, half-volley on leg stump would be greeted with ultimate suspicion.

The magic man has had a wrong 'un in his armoury for quite some time. This series, though, it often spun away from right-handed batsmen like a wrist spinner's legbreak, regularly bamboozling even such a high-class technician as Graham Thorpe.

"Murali, Murali, Murali, Murali chucks it like a dream," sang the Barmy Army with heavy emphasis on the 'chuck'.

England, if you discount Nasser Hussain's alleged comments in Kandy, have kept their thoughts to themselves so far as the legality of Murali's action is concerned, but they are in no doubt he has become more of a handful than ever and believe others - maybe even Australia, who come here in March - will struggle as well.

"The thing about Murali is the mystery he creates," said coach Duncan Fletcher.

"As soon as you create mystery you also create doubt and when you do that you've got a great opportunity to force mistakes.

"Sri Lanka's other bowlers then feed off that mystery.

"You could see all our guys struggle with this new ball of Murali's. Before, it didn't really turn and was a lot slower so you had time to adjust.

"This time it was quicker at you and some of them went more than a leg-break. And you couldn't read it out of the hand so you're never quite sure.

"I think it's going to be very difficult for people to counter it, although I feel we should have swept more."

Murali finished the series with 26 wickets and it was only fitting that he should put the seal on an innings and 215-run defeat - England's third heaviest of all time - by bowling James Kirtley.

Having battled so hard for twothirds of the series, Vaughan's side deserve a bit of sympathy for taking such a hammering at the end.

"The attitude was pretty positive after the two draws," said Fletcher.

"It could have been one game too far but the bottom line is that we didn't play very well in the final Test and Sri Lanka did.

"We always knew it was going to be very difficult out here and our batsmen, even with their experience, could not consolidate and build a big total.

"But the attitude and the camaraderie in the squad were outstanding right to the end."

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England in awe of Murali's mysteries

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