Clearly something has to change. Sri Lanka’s most precious natural resource,Muttiah Muralitharan, is in danger of being mined into an early retirement.His bowling shoulder, packed with ice after every practice session andmassaged continuously by the fitness team, is hurting more each week.

Natural joints can only take so much wear and tear. The longevity of hiscareer, and the size of the world record he eventually posts, depends uponSri Lanka’s second spinner in particular and Sri Lanka’s support bowlers ingeneral.Muralitharan’s workload during this England tour has been phenomenal.Already, in the first two Test matches, he’s bowled 164 overs out of the 459sent down by Sri Lanka – that’s a 36% share of the workload. His totalseries figures are: 164-79-217-19. Not bad!The problem that Hashan Tillakaratne faces is that his spin wizard isbowling quite brilliantly. England’s batters had arrived in Sri Lankaquietly confident of decoding his trickery, but they now admit that he’sbeen fiendishly difficult to read from the hand. The ball has been spittingboth ways and all the batsman to score runs have lived charmed lives -except perhaps Michael Vaughan who played him expertly in Kandy.But Muralitharan appeared to wane during that final day. He bowled 56 out ofthe 140 overs in the innings. It was an unreasonable and unacceptableworkload. Although he loves to bowl and bowl, Tillakaratne should have usedhis support bowlers more.Chaminda Vaas’s workload in the final two sessions was, for example,strangely light: nine overs spread over 4 ½ hours in the field. At first wethought he was poorly after he vomited on the outfield at the end of his runjust after lunch. It turns out though that that was merely a badly timedhelping of fruit salad. Tillakaratne surely missed a trick.The unwillingness to use Dinusha Fernando – who was given just one over withthe second new ball after Tillakaratne delayed taking it until the finalhour – was also surprising. One wondered how many overs Dilhara Fernandowould have bowled – certainly more is the answer. I have no doubt thatDilhara will play in Colombo on his home ground.

But it was the relative ineffectiveness of the second spinner, KumarDharmasena, which caused most concern. Dharmasena’s offbreaks providedEngland’s batters with few problems. Perhaps, with hindsight, Upul Chandanashould have played? The legspinner had in fact been announced in the finalXI at the pre-match team meeting but a last-minute change on the morning ofthe match saw Dharmasena being drafted in.The more controversial view is that neither should have played. Instead,Rangana Herath, a left-arm spinner that has been hauling in wickets in SouthAfrica and India with the A team, should have been in the squad.The argument against his selection is that Sanath Jayasuriya provides asound slow left arm option. But such thinking is flawed. You don’t pickvariation for variation’s sake; you pick the best bowlers. Jayasuriya is auseful spinner, someone who is capable of nicking out a wicket or too, butis not in the same class as Herath. On the evidence of the first two tests,Chandana and Dharmasena are also no match.Unfortunately we also have to be honest, Herath is no world-beater. When hebowls in tandem with Muralitharan he will no doubt look ordinary. The factis that Muralitharan is truly exceptional. His standards are so far abovemost bowlers in the world that comparisons are unfair. Nevertheless, Herathmay well be a better bet, possibly even for the third Test in Colombo.In the long-term though, the selectors must intensify their search forbowlers. The Muralitharan era is, I’m afraid, slowly drawing to a close. Hebelieves he can last until 2007, but with his current workload burnout mighthappen much sooner. A premature end to his career would be a travesty. SriLanka must protect him.

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Scorecard

Australia A subjected the Indians to a hard day in the field, first racking up 311 and then testing their batsmen for 13 overs, dismissing Sadagoppan Ramesh in the process. The Indians ended the first day at 35 for 1, with Akash Chopra and Deep Dasgupta at the crease.The day belonged largely to Australia A, who dominated the first and last sessions on the first day of the three-day game at Hobart. Overcast conditions, a steady breeze, and a moist pitch were of no use to the Indian bowlers, who bowled the wrong line and length, and gifted width to the batsmen. Chris Rogers, Michael Hussey, and Martin Love accepted the offerings gleefully, racking up half-centuries to put the Indians on the ropes.Rogers and Hussey began circumspectly, but once they realised that Lakshmipathy Balaji was not getting any movement, either in the air or off the pitch, they opened up and dealt largely in boundaries. Hussey was noticeably strong off his legs, despite which the bowlers insisted on sending half-volleys at his pads. When the bowling demanded it, he went on the defensive, but was always alert to scoring opportunities. A loose ball by Ashish Nehra was hit over midwicket for six, and another from Irfan Pathan rocketed into the point fence.Rogers, on the other hand, didn’t care where the ball was. His trademark shot was the intended cover-drive that was edged airily past gully for a boundary. This occurred four times. There should have been a fifth, but Ramesh was in the way – and, in the spirit of the morning session, dropped the catch. Edgy strokes were mixed with delicate glances off the hips, and a push from a Balaji long-hop raced to the long-off fence. Before anyone knew it, Rogers was past 50. And this was only the first hour.Rogers’s good luck with edges ended when Sourav Ganguly swung a ball away, which caught the edge of the bat on its way to Dasgupta, the wicketkeeper. However, the dismissal of Rogers for 70 didn’t stop the flood of runs, as Hussey and Love kept attacking the bowlers in a move to keep them on the defensive.It worked. An attacking field became more defensive as the batsmen found gaps with ease. Insipid fielding didn’t help, either. The fielders let balls through their legs, and the returns from the outfield were leisurely. In sheer frustration, Balaji bowled three short deliveries to Love, who got up on tiptoe and punched them through cover, threading one past three fielders.

Hussey kept collecting singles and twos, and after passing 50, opened up to attack. That attack lasted precisely one ball, as an attempted pull to midwicket off Nehra looped to mid-on, where Ganguly made a difficult catch look simple (204 for 2). Nehra followed this up as the last ball before tea pitched on off and swerved in, crashing into the off stump after passing through the tiny gap Brad Hodge left between his bat and pad (207 for 3).Michael Clarke joined Love after the tea break, and it was evident that a declaration was on the cards. Love, who had been cautiously aggressive earlier, went on an all-out assault. And Clarke joined the party just as it started. A delivery by Murali Kartik landed in the midwicket stands, while Balaji and Pathan were cut and pulled savagely to the boundary.Kartik, whose bowling had commanded respect earlier in the day, found nearly every ball he bowled in his last spell dispatched to the boundary, or somewhere near it. Figures of 15.4 overs for 64, with a solitary wicket, did not reflect the control with which he bowled, nor how hard the batsmen worked for their runs.Love’s fifty took 94 balls, but his next 43 runs came in just 36. By far the most relaxed batsman on view today, he was set for a century, but fell cutting a Pathan delivery too close to his body, for Dasgupta to take a regulation catch (279 for 4).Clarke and Cameron White then launched into the Indian bowlers, adding 23 runs in quick time, before White took a swipe at a Kartik floater, and had his stumps disturbed (302 for 5). Soon after, Australia A declared at 311 for 5.Ramesh (4) lasted all of nine balls, before a Matthew Nicholson delivery hit the back of his bat and floated to gully. At 5 for 1, the Indians were given a good wake-up call, and Chopra and Dasgupta stood firm till the end of the day.

The ICC has refused to comment on the latest match-fixing scandal to hit international cricket. In a press release, Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said that it wouldn’t be proper to comment on the letter which was allegedly written by Lord Condon, director of the Anti Corruption Unit (ACU), to the Pakistan board hinting at underperformance by Pakistan in two one-day international tournaments in Morocco and Kenya.Commenting on the report which appeared in , a Pakistan daily, Speed stressed that any correspondence between the ACU and a cricket board was private and confidential. “It is not appropriate for the ICC to make a comment one way or the other on these letters or any other issue in relation to potential operational matters for the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.”However, he insisted that the ICC was determined to eliminate match-fixing. “What I can say is that the ICC is committed to ensuring that the game is never again tainted by corruption and that through the Anti Corruption and Security Unit, it now has in place a professional security and investigative team with the resources to deal with this threat.”

Bangladesh 139 for 6 (Keshvani 5-29) beat Canada 136 (Jethi 42) by four wickets
ScorecardBangladesh made heavy weather of beating a spirited Canadian side, as memories of their senior team’s humiliation in last year’s World Cup came flooding back into the picture.On that occasion it had been a dreadlocked plumber-turned-seamer, Austin Codrington, whose five-wicket haul condemned Bangladesh to defeat. This time, it was a young offspinner Shaheed Keshvani who applied the heebie-jeebies, taking 5 for 29 in his ten overs. But unfortunately for Canada, their total of 136 was insufficient to engineer another upset.Canada won the toss, batted first and collapsed to 36 for 5 as Talha Jubair and Nazmul Hossain tore through the top-order, with the aid of a run-out. But Karun Jethi belted Canada towards a reasonable total with 42 from 26 balls, and added 70 for the sixth wicket with Soham Anjaria (27).Bangladesh’s openers Naeem Islama and Nafees Iqbal opened the run-chase with a half-century partnership but then, with a comfortable victory in sight, Keshwani ripped through the middle-order – aided and abetted by a series of loose shots. The prospect of an embarrassing defeat was finally averted by Nazim Uddin, whose 27 not out took Bangladesh to victory in 34.5 overs.Canada’s coach Franklyn Dennis was disappointed despite the tight-ish finish. “I’m not very pleased with today’s performance,” he said. “We expected to win matches in this tournament and we haven’t yet come close.”Bangladesh’s opener Nafees was pleased to see his side return to winning ways but was frustrated by his own soft dismissal. “The last few days have been disappointing,” he admitted. “I have not been satisfied with my batting and today I made the wrong decision and was out.”Ireland 329 for 9 (Morgan 117) beat Uganda 206 (Arinaitwe 42) by 123 runs
ScorecardEoin Morgan hammered 117 from 129 balls, and Kevin O’Brien continued his good form with 70 from 87, as Ireland swept past Uganda in their Plate Championship encounter at Chittagong. The pair added 166 for the third wicket to form the backbone of an imposing total of 329 for 9. Uganda performed creditably in their run-chase, but were eventually bowled out for 206 with four overs to spare.Ireland won the toss and chose to bat, but suffered an early setback when Gary Wilson was run out for 5 in the fifth over (22 for 1). Morgan and his captain William Porterfield then added 59 for the second wicket, and by the time Morgan and O’Brien had completed their hefty effort, Ireland had wickets in hand and licence to go after the bowling. Andrew Riddles (23 from 15) and Simon Wells (33 from 11) did just that, and though the innings was interrupted by two late run-outs, 82 runs still came from the last seven overs.Not content with his batting heroics, Morgan took the new ball and grabbed wickets with his first and fourth balls as Dennis Musali and Arthur Kyobe were snapped up for ducks. But Uganda refused to buckle, as Hamza Almuzahim and Davis Arinaitwe produced a pair of 40s to stabilise the middle order, before Patrick Ochan (26 not out) and Danniel Ruyange added 32 for the tenth wicket.

ScorecardEngland A took complete control on the second day of their Duleep Trophy match at Gurgaon, bowling South Zone out for 174 to claim a lead of 203, and swelling that by 88 more runs before the close.Overnight England A were 308 for 7, and managed to reach 377, mainly thanks to Essex’s Graham Napier, who made 76. South Zone then made a terrible start, losing Barrington Rowland – who was named after the former England stalwart Ken – for a duck, and his fellow opener Ibrahim Khaleel for 1. The experienced Sridharan Sriram steadied the ship, scoring 44 in a third-wicket stand of 74 with Venugopal Rao, who finished with 58 not out.But apart from Ramakrishnan Ramkumar, who hit 43 from No. 8, and with the captain S Ramesh unable to bat after being injured in the field, the rest struggled against some testing bowling. James Tredwell, the Kent offspinner who is captaining England A in this match, took 4 for 41, and the sparingly used SImon Jones grabbed two middle-order wickets for 24 in his nine overs.Leading by 203, England A wobbled at the start of their second innings, losing Michael Lumb for a duck and Scott Newman for 10. Ed Smith also ground his way to 10 – from 92 balls – before he was run out. But Kevin Pietersen, fresh from his first-innings century, was again in majestic form, and had swept to 65 out of 88 by the close.

Shane Warne
On his comeback
I couldn’t have asked for a better series. I feel very very good. One thing I’ve been happy with is the amount of spin I’ve been getting. Probably I haven’t spun the ball over the past few years as much as I’d have liked, but I think the 12 months have given a rest to my shoulder and my finger. I’m back spinning the ball big time. For Ricky [Ponting] to show the faith to give me the overs in the first innings of the first Test match gave me a lot of confidence for the series.On his fitness
I’ve worked pretty hard for the last two or three years. I suppose the rewards have been there for the last 20 or 25 Test matches. They’ve all been pretty good.On the series
To win three-nil over here is not an achievement to be taken lightly. They’re a very good side.On today
The wicket was still pretty good. Although it was turning we saw that once two blokes got in, as we did yesterday, it was still a good wicket and you needed to bowl well.On chasing the world record for Test wickets
I didn’t think I was going to get the seven [which he needed to pass Courtney Walsh’s Test record of 519]. Obviously it was on my mind to do it. It would have been lovely to get it here because Murali goes to Zimbabwe from here, so he’ll probably race about 80 ahead, or 40 ahead, or however many he can get in a couple of games!On Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka holds some special memories for me. Standing there just before I bowled [Nuwan] Zoysa, I was thinking about the time I stood on this ground 12 years ago. It was a similar situation, with the match going down to the wire. After I got the wicket I felt very happy and emotional about what these last 12 years have been like.Ricky Ponting
On the match
Another very tough win. I thought coming down to the ground this morning that we would probably win the game. I thought we would be able to create enough chances to take ten wickets. But things didn’t go our way early in the day and they played well early on, and once again we had to dig deep and fight and fight and fight. All the guys stuck to their guns and stuck to the things that we knew were going to work for us, and things fell into place right at the end.On Warne
When the game is up for grabs there is probably no-one in the world youwould rather have on your side with the ball in his hand. He did not have a lot of luck in this game, although he probably bowled as well as he did in the other two, but it was good that he got the results at the end of the day. It was a matter of him being patient, especially when he has got a fewleft-handers to bowl to with a fair bit of rough to bowl into. If he lands it in the rough enough times then soon enough something is going to happen.On winning in the subcontinent
This means a lot to everybody. We had set our sights after the first twoTests on winning this game and clean-sweeping the series. I won’t say it looked like we were not going to get there, but we did in the end, and it is a huge result for this team. We showed our improvement in these conditions.On Darren Lehmann, the Man of the Match
When there was a breakthrough to be had he was the one to get it in bothinnings, and he got rid of Sanath Jayasuriya, their danger player, in both innings. He had a great series and it is great to have him back in the side as he is a great character. He adds a lot of energy out in the field as he always has something funny to say.On Sri Lanka
I think they have played good cricket, but we just got our noses in front of them in each Test match. They have been three of the best Test matches that you could have hoped for, with every game going to the last day. There have been three great games and they should be proud of the way they have played. When they had a chance to really nail us in the first innings of the first Test match they didn’t, and it was the same in the first innings in Kandy.

The medical commission which performed tests on Shoaib Akhtar earlier this week suggested that he had been suffering from stress to his lower rib cage during the third Test against India at Rawalpindi.Akhtar, who was accused of feigning injury and not bowling for nearly half of India’s innings, was in heated mood when he addressed the media after the findings were released. The News quoted him as saying, “I have made my statement and it is for them [PCB] to decide. The injury has since healed, partially, and I have been resting for the past fortnight.”Shoaib went on to talk about how the fitness levels required for batting and bowling were completely different. “You need the whole body to be perfect when you bowl – it is different when you are batting. I am surprised how someone can think I was not badly injured. I have always done justice to my job and given my 110%.”The commission carried out the tests on Wednesday, including a bone scan at the Shaukat Khanum Hospital. According to the scan report, “There is intense increased tracer uptake in the 11th left rib posteriorly going towards the lateral side of the chest. Rest of the scan is within normal limits. Result is suggestive of local pathology involving 11th left rib posteriorly and laterally in view of patient’s history. This appears to be due to persistent stress.”The final report will be released later on Friday.

Every cricket game, no matter how boring it eventually turns out to be, begins with a touch of mystery: who’s going to win the toss? Well, in Indian domestic cricket, that mystery may no longer remain. In a conclave held by the Indian board (BCCI) in Mumbai, attended by coaches and captains of first-class teams in India, it was suggested that the toss be eliminated from the game, with the visiting team having the option to decide whether to bat or bowl first.Sunil Gavaskar, the head of the BCCI’s technical committee, explained that this move would level the home team’s advantage, besides tackling, to some extent, the issue of doctored pitches. Of course, with the toss written into the laws of the game, this might not be so easy to implement. “I know the toss is a part of the game,” said Gavaskar. “If we [decide to] implement this suggestion, we will see how we can go around it.”In a move to make sure that there were more results in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier first-class tournament, it was suggested that playing days be increased to five instead of four. A fair amount of cricket is also lost in the winter when fog makes play impossible in the northern parts of India; the conclave suggested not holding any matches in the north during December and January.Other suggestions included raising the financial penalty for slow-over rates, standardising all equipment, such as rollers, used throughout India’s many first-class centres, and improving the quality of the balls being used. The SG Test balls currently in use have been found unsatisfactory, and alternatives are being explored, both from SG and from their rival ball manufacturer, Kookaburra.Gavaskar also stressed on the need to control misbehaviour on the field. “I told them [match officials] to be fair and [to] come down heavily on the offenders,” said Gavaskar. “Gamesmanship is fine but there cannot be a place for personal abuse in the game.”

The Pakistan A squad for Kenya has been announced and, contrary to prior expectations, no big names are part of it. Earlier, it was reported that senior players who did not make the cut for the senior squad for the Asia Cup might be chosen for the A team tour.But while the Pakistan team is devoid of stars, the India A team is expected to contain a few players who have represented India in one-day internationals.Pakistan A will play a four-day game against Kenya before a triangular series involving the hosts and India A.Pakistan A Taufeeq Umar, Babar Naeem, Asif Zakir, Naved Latif, Nomanullah, Shahid Yousuf, Usman Tariq, Naveed Qureshi, Shadab Kabir, Shoaib Khan, Afaq Rahim, Naseem Khan, Faisal Ather, Qaiser Abbas, Salman Qadir, Junaid Zia, Bilal Asad, Mansoor Amjad, Azam Husain, Zulqarnain, Nasir Khan, Irshad Mohammad, Mohammad Khalil.

Scorecard

The NatWest Series eventually got underway today at Edgbaston – well, almost.Like the opening match, the second one, between New Zealand and West Indies, was abandoned, but at least there was some action today. After a quickfire innings by Brian Lara boosted West Indies to 122 for 4 from their reduced and interrupted quota of 21 overs, New Zealand were cruising towards their revised target of 140 when the rain returned after 13.4 overs to force the umpires to call the match off at around 7.20pm.It was a stop-start day all along. When play finally began at 2.15, Stephen Fleming won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to bowl first. West Indies progressed to 39 for 0 from 10 overs before another lengthy rain-break, and then added 82 more runs afterwards. New Zealand then reached 97 for 2 from 13.4 overs before the rain had the final say.West Indies’ innings was one of two parts. Before the showers returned in the afternoon, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was wearing two black anti-glare stickers under each eye similar to an American football player, made a solid start as the New Zealand attack failed to take advantage after winning the toss. However, in keeping with the series so far, the rain came back and the covers were whipped back on.Play resumed a little under two hours later, and New Zealand immediately hit back as the batsmen struggled against the seaming ball. Scott Styris struck with his first delivery when he trapped Chanderpaul lbw for a sluggish 14 from 42 balls (56 for 1). Dwayne Smith then clipped a wide one from Styris behind to Brendon McCullum for 1 (59 for 2), and Gayle edged Jacob Oram to McCullum for 30 (59 for 3).Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan got things back on track for West Indies. Sarwan cut and hooked Oram for four, and Lara clipped Oram past fine leg for his first boundary. Then came the improvisation from Lara, who smacked Oram for 22 runs in one over. The first three balls he shuffled right across to the off side and whipped him past fine leg for four, then smacked the next two over the off side for a four and a six.Lara was then out in bizarre circumstances. He again moved over to the off, and after he hit Chris Cairns to leg, his bat swung right round and touched the stumps (115 for 4). Sarwan then squeezed Cairns past fine leg for another boundary, and West Indies had given themselves a sporting chance of victory.Ravi Rampaul, though, had a nightmare first over, bowling four wides and two no-balls as it went for 18. However, Ricardo Powell helped to forget that bad start with a wonderful diving catch at backward point to dismiss Fleming for 12 (20 for 1), and Jermaine Lawson then took his second wicket when Nathan Astle edged him to Gayle at first slip for 12 (50 for 2).As the skies darkened and the drizzle returned, Styris and Hamish Marshall progressed with few scares towards New Zealand’s target. But as the rain became heavier, the umpires had no choice but to go off, allowing the weather eventually to win the day. West Indies – and England – will be hoping for more luck tomorrow at Trent Bridge.