04/19/24
July 22, 2010
The King of Spin: On the last day of his Test career, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Murilitharan becomes the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets. Having announced his retirement earlier in the year, Murali captured his 800th test wicket with the last ball of the match; his last ball in test cricket. A test career plagued with controversy over an alleged throwing action (discussed in this show: part 1, part 2) came to a spectacular end as he had India's Ojah caught by Mahela at first slip. Some people maintain that he was a "chucker" (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary); others just think he was the best off-spinner the game has ever seen. A montage and some great pictures from his career.
posted by Mr Bismarck to other at 07:44 AM - 9 comments
For US baseball fans of my generation, this is as close as we probably get to the look.
(Mouse over image to enlarge).
Fond memories are flooding back...
posted by beaverboard at 10:37 AM on July 22, 2010
Is it just me, or does the base of the trophy Phil is holding resemble a vacuum cleaner?
posted by yzelda4045 at 10:56 AM on July 22, 2010
Murali is the King of Spin, not to be confused with Ashley Giles, the King of Spain.
Ashley gained the nickname of 'King of Spain' following an unfortunate printing error involving some mugs ordered by the Warwickshire Club shop at Edgbaston.
The mugs included pictures of Ashley and were meant to read 'Ashley Giles - King of SPIN' unfortunately it came back as ' King of Spain'.
Some friends of mine paid hommage on fancy dress day at Edgbaston in the 4th Ashes test in 2005.
posted by JJ at 11:55 AM on July 22, 2010
All of your pictures are nixed by my work's filter.
I am very afraid.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:44 PM on July 22, 2010
Thanks for this, Mr. B. I just returned from 2 weeks in cricket-mad Barbados, and I've managed to learn just a bit about the game. There were nightly telecasts of English County matches, as well as some from England vs Bangladesh. There was also plenty of time for sitting on the beach with my wife sipping drinks with umbrellas in them.
It does appear to me that Murali's delivery is legitimate, but the natural bend of the elbow does give him something of an advantage. To me, the "Doosra" looks like a split-finger pitch in baseball, but delivered with the hand upside down. How he can control that is beyond me. Nonetheless, 800 Test wickets is quite a career accomplishment.
Murali is the King of Spin
I always thought that Robert Gibbs was the King of Spin.
posted by Howard_T at 02:14 PM on July 22, 2010
Great achievement by a guy whose family's business was burned down in communal riots when he was a child. Murali has done his best outside the game to promote positive images for the Tamil minorities in his country. He also did some fantastic relief work with communities in the east of Sri Lanka following the tsunami in 2004.
In Colombo, his image appears on huge billboards all over the city advertising a beer, a glass of which he holds in his hand. I amuse myself by pointing out to my Sri Lankan friends and colleagues that in this huge image, his right arm is clearly bent.
posted by owlhouse at 03:25 AM on July 23, 2010
His Wikipedia article makes for some very interesting reading, for those of us who are a bit underinformed. The intense battery of testing he went through to make sure he was bowling and not throwing is kind of ridiculous.
posted by boredom_08 at 03:28 AM on July 23, 2010
Murali's "crazy face" always made me chuckle.