Aussies opt for new tactics to counter Murali

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Australia in a desperate attempt to consolidate their position as the number one Test playing nation and to counter attack Sri Lanka's ace off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan have now opted for different tactics while using startling technological developments.

The Sports Science Unit at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence is planning to use cameras to polish off the batsmen's technique against Muralitharan's deadly 'doosra' which is the apparent off spinner that turns the other way.

Sri Lanka will play two Test matches against Australia at Brisbane and in Hobart with Muralitharan needing just nine wickets to beat retired Australian spinner Shane Warne's world record haul of 708 wickets.

Sri Lanka are currently placed third in the latest International Cricket Council Test Rankings with 107 points while Australia are on top with a tally of 141 points followed by England (115 points) in second place.

A number of cameras will be set up to capture as nearly as possible a batsman's eye view of the opposition bowlers and will relay the feed to a studio near the Australian dressing room.

As a result the players padded up and waiting to bat will be able to rehearse their innings using images gathered from the middle and projected life-size back into the pavilion.

This means that a player batting in the middle order will be able to face Muttiah Muralitharan with a great amount of confidence having already got his eye in against him in real time with the ability to replay deliveries which he found difficult.

According to the latest technologies a batsman could pick up the cues in Muralitharan's bowling action on that particular day so they know when the ball is coming. The Sports Science Unit at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence have already tested this latest technology with footage in a training environment and simulated game scenarios.

With this kind of technology available the players no longer need to rely entirely on traditional net sessions and fielding practices to reach peak performance.

Muralitharan during his previous two visits to Australia had some bitter experience where he was called for throwing by umpire Darrel Hair in the Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne in 1995/96 and again in the one day series that followed.

However he was cleared by the International Cricket Council after biomechanical analysis at the University of Western Australia and at the University of Hong Kong in 1996.

But the controversy continued and he was called again during the 1998/99 tour to Australia this time by umpire Ross Emerson. Muralitharan was sent for further tests in Perth and England and was cleared again by the ICC.

However the perfection of his doosra prompted further suspicion and at the end of a prolific three match home series against Australia in March 2004 he was reported by the ICC match referee Chris Broad.

In the meantime Muralitharan continued to pile on the wickets while overtaking Courtney Walsh's 519-wicket world record to become the highest wicket-taker in Test history in May 2004.

Muralitharan who incidentally made his Test debut against Australia in 1992 at the R. Premadasa Stadium have so far captured a total of fifty wickets from 13 matches against the Aussies at an average of 31.42.

His best performance was a matchbag of 11 wickets for 212 runs at the Galle Stadium during the 2003/04 series.

Sri Lanka have played 18 Test matches altogether against Australia and have just a solitary victory to their credit while losing eleven of them.