Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan (April 17, 1971 - ) is a Sri Lankan cricket player, and the most statistically effective off-spin bowler ever to play Test cricket. In 2002 Wisden named him as the greatest spinner of all time.

He was born in Kandy[?], the eldest of four sons to father Muttiah Sinnasmy. At the age of nine he went to St Anthony's College.

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Muralitharan's bowling action is highly controversial amongst many observers of cricket, as to some it appears that it contravenes the game's laws by straightening the arm in the course of the delivery. The controversy came to a head after Australian umpire Darrell Hair called a no-ball for an illegal action seven times during the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne, Australia, in 1995. After discussions between the Australian Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka, Hair umpired no further games involving Sri Lanka in the season.

Muralitharan was later no-balled for throwing by Australian umpires Ross Emerson and Tony McQuillan in a one-day match against England, in Brisbane, Australia, later in the same summer. Following this season, Muralitharan underwent biomechanical tests in Hong Kong and Australia under the supervision of bowling experts, who cleared his action as legal, citing a congenital birth defect in Muralitharan's arm which makes him incapable of straightening it, but giving the appearance of the arm straightening in the bowling action.

Doubts about Muralitharan's action remain, particularly in Australia and England. In 1999, he was once again called for throwing by umpire Ross Emerson in a one-day match against England, at the Adelaide Oval in Australia. The Sri Lankan team almost abandoned the match, but after instructions from the president of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (relayed to captain Arjuna Ranatunga[?] by mobile phone) the game resumed.