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Lanka minus Murali a financial disaster Down Under?
By Lawrence Heyn
BRISBANE: World record holder Muttiah Muralitharan's refusal to tour Australia for the forthcoming Test series will spell a financial disaster for organisers here.

The two Tests, to be played in Darwin and Cairns in July, have been billed as a wicket-for-wicket showdown between Muralitharan and Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. The pair were expected to continue from where they left off in the recent series in Sri Lanka when they accounted for more than 50 wickets in the three Tests.

Such a draw card is seen as important to keep interest in the winter cricket series played in the middle of the football season. Organisers are so desperate for Muralitharan to tour that last week the Cairns Post, a north Queensland regional daily, devoted its entire front page to an appeal to Muralitharan to come. The newspaper, which has started a campaign to gain the support of cricket fans, urged him to disregard Prime Minister John Howard and tour with the Sri Lankans.

But Howard's ill-informed comments, when he said Muralitharan was a chucker, are seen by many Sri Lankan fans as the final slur from Australia to keep Muralitharan home.

Not that Howard's opinion should carry any weight. A self-confessed "cricket tragic'', he is the least qualified to comment on the finer points of the game. But it is Howard's way to throw a red herring, to give Australians something else to talk about when he is under so much pressure due to his domestic and international policies.

The prime minister is slipping in the opinion polls and has had to dodge some hard questions with regard to how much he knew about the Americans' barbarism towards Iraqis at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison; allegations of mistreatment of two Australians imprisoned without charge at Guantanamo Bay; prolonged detention of refugees, and travel rots among the government members of parliament.

Kevin Maher, president of Cricket Far North, hit out at Howard in a recent newspaper interview. "Is Johnny qualified to speak on this matter ?'' Maher asked.

Maher said Cairns was looking forward to the contest between Muralitharan and Warne and cricket fans in the north wanted him to come. North Queensland tourism stands to gain a lot from a Muralitharan-Warne match-up but the expected economic boom is likely to be hurt if the record holder stays away.

Views are divided among Sri Lankans.
Jayantha Pathikirikorale, who runs a successful travel agency in Brisbane, is in touch with the feelings of Sri Lankan expatriates.
Pathikirikorale says there is pride in what the off-spinner has achieved but also anger at what he has gone through.

"He should come and show what a true world champion he is, '' Pathikirikorale said.
Some other expatriate Sri Lankans just want Muralitharan to take a break and enjoy his world record. They believe that even if Warne overhauls him, it will be for a short time.

"Isn't that what this is all about ?'' one commented.
Others don't want Muralitharan to suffer the same mental torment he had been subjected to on three previous visits to Australia. They fear that, this time, it will be too much.

But Bill Deutrom, joint chairman of the Brisbane-based Sri Lanka Cricket Foundation, says Muralitharan can handle it.
"He is very strong, '' Deutrom said.
"There is huge support for Murali.
"I am absolutely disgusted at John Howard for making comments about an international cricketer. ''

Deutrom said Muralitharan was an icon in Sri Lanka.
"Politicians have no idea of the impact Murali has had on the whole country, what he has done to bring the country together is amazing,'' Deutrom said.
"I would love him to come. But I will understand if he doesn't.''
Deutrom criticised Australia's treatment of Muralitharan.
"It is completely un-Australian,'' he said.

"The fair go has gone.''
Deutrom's comments highlight the shift in the Australian sporting mindset.
The much-vaunted ethic of giving someone a "fair go'' has been replaced by an obsession of wanting to be winners, or the best, all the time. This has resulted in the country's leaders and so-called experts clambering on to the high moral ground.

But their stance is, at best, self-righteous and fatuous.
There is little to envy in Australian sport at the moment.
Lately, the three football codes have been rocked by scandals, ranging from rape allegations against players to drunken sprees to an open lack of respect for women. Two elite players were sacked last week from the New South Wales camp, for just such behaviour, tainting rugby league's showpiece State of Origin clash with Queensland.

Australia's infatuation with champions was best exposed a few months ago when world 400m freestyle record holder Ian Thorpe fell off the blocks at the Olympic trials and failed to qualify for that event at the Athens Games.
What followed was a media frenzy and talk-back designed to pressure Craig Stevens, who had qualified in Thorpe's place, to stand aside in favour of the world champion. This culminated in a national media event when Stevens came on air to announce he would withdraw from the 400m.

All of Australia breathed a sigh of relief, safe in the knowledge their champion would be able to bring them gold in the 400m.
So, why is Muralitharan so out of tune with the Australian sporting psyche?
As a high-calibre Test player he has never brought the game into disrepute, his reputation is untarnished, unlike Warne's, and he has given pleasure to so many with his skilful and smiling approach to the game.
Sacked Australian Cricket Board chief executive officer Graeme Halbish recently revealed in his book, Run Out, that Australian sights were set on Muralitharan as far back as 1995.

Halbish says at that time national coach Bobby Simpson had commissioned photographs to be taken of Muralitharan's action and sent them to the ICC.
This was weeks before Muralitharan was called for throwing in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
So began Operation Get Murali.

The most pathetic example of the campaign is the report that, after Muralitharan secured the world record, former wicket-keeper Barry Jarman is reported to have used a protractor on a published photograph in an attempt to prove that Muralitharan was a chucker.

One incident that made me sick to the stomach was seeing the crowd's mean-minded treatment of Muralitharan in the one-day international against Australia in Brisbane last year. The off-spinner, who injured a leg during the game, was forced to complete his 10 overs standing on one leg. He captured four wickets in one of the finest displays of skill and courage displayed by a modern-day bowler, yet he was constantly heckled and "no-balled'' by the crowd and left the field to jeers.

Despite Muralitharan's heroics, the game will be remembered for its boorish "fans'' and, of course, the mean-spirited display of Australian batsman Darren Lehmann which earned him a suspension.

No doubt, this incident will be one of many in the forefront of Muralitharan's mind when he weighs up the pros and cons of coming to Australia.
One thing is certain, while John Howard's views don't matter, his beliefs are representative of some of the ill-mannered treatment Muralitharan will receive if he tours.
Make no mistake. The jeers and the heckling will continue.

There is no chance Muralitharan will face a reformed cricketing public.
Not if the likes of people such as Bob Simpson, Barry Jarman, Ross Emerson and his other detractors have anything to say about it. So, Muralitharan has to make a careful and well-considered decision about the upcoming tour.
I believe this is a decision he cannot make himself.

Sri Lanka Cricket and coach Dyson will have to make a judgment on what is best for Muralitharan, and not just what is best for the team.
The world record holder will need guidance and support from the people he respects and trusts.

No game is worth so much that the pride and spirit of one of its greatest players should be crushed.
Lawrence Heyn was sports editor of the Sun and Weekend newspapers in Colombo. He migrated to Australia in 1984 and works as a journalist in Brisbane.

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