JEDDAH, 25 May 2004 — Why was Ponting pouting? Barely days after Brian Lara had reclaimed the Test batting world record of 400 not out, Ricky Ponting, the captain of the Australian cricket team was somewhat peeved. Rather than offer his congratulations to Lara who achieved this feat against a very strong and spirited England bowling line-up, Ponting chose to downplay it by stating that his magnificent innings was tinged with selfishness.
Lara’s quadruple century — the first in Test history, eclipsed Matthew Hayden’s former world mark of 380 against lowly Zimbabwe — was almost 13 hours in the making. Unthinkable since Test cricket began, the 400 runs barrier was finally broken by a cricketer from the West Indies. And in doing so, he wiped out the Australian’s hold on those honors.
Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is the top Test wicket-taker of all time with 523 wickets. He too broke the world record recently, surpassing the great Courtney Walsh. Walsh was among the first to congratulate him, and predicted that with Murali’s age and style, he could reach the 1,000 Test wickets milestone. In a tight race with Shane Warne of Australia, it was this man from the island nation of Sri Lanka who stole the bowling accolades.
And once again, another Australian had no positive comments to say. This time it was the Australian Prime Minister John Howard who accused him of being a chucker. And while the ICC Technical Committee has cleared Muralitharan who has a genetic defect, which stops him fully straightening his bowling arm upon delivery, Mr. Howard pursued on discrediting the momentous achievements of the Sri Lankan.
Such negative statements coming from the Australians who have seen their hold on cricket world records slip away smacks of a solid case of sour grapes. Just because it wasn’t the Aussies this time? Rather than be among the first to appreciate the singular efforts of these two remarkable individuals, the Australians simply chose to shrug them off with unflattering comments. And that’s simply not cricket.
It matters not however, for the cricketing world knows better and acknowledges with full praise Brian Lara and Muttiah Muralitharan for a fantastic job.
