Ok, who's going to play the party pooper?
My crystal ball has been ruthlessly cast aside thanks to Murali's antics. It is now tea on the fourth day and this is what Murali has done in the last hour or so at Trent Bridge.
27.2 Muralitharan to Trescothick, OUT, Muralitharan provides the breakthrough with a beauty! doosra on the off stump, short of length ball making Trescothick move back, tries to defend but the ball slips through the bat-pad gap, brushes the pads and straight into the off stump, Muralitharan unaware and appeals but teammates rush in to congratulateThe question is - which of the other Sri Lankan bowlers is going to ensure that Murali doesn't join Laker and Kumble. Mind you, he's already the only chap to have taken two 9fers!
ME Trescothick b Muralitharan 31 (98b 3x4 0x6) sr: 31.63
England 84/1 ME Trescothick 31 (98b 3x4) M Muralitharan 9.2-2-20-1
35.5 Muralitharan to Cook, OUT, An excellent ball, flighted up on the leg stump, bowled from slightly wide of the crease, comes forward, ball straightens into the pad, looks right in front, Koertzen agrees, and Murali strikes again
AN Cook lbw b Muralitharan 5 (23b 0x4 0x6) sr: 21.73
England 104/2 AN Cook 5 (23b) M Muralitharan 13.5-5-23-2
39.3 Muralitharan to Strauss, OUT, flighted outside the off, may have been a bit quicker, pitched outside off, drew him forward, not quite to the pitch, ball pitches and straightens, gets a faint edge, into the keepers gloves, rebounds to slip
AJ Strauss c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 55 (115b 6x4 0x6) sr: 47.82
England 111/3 AJ Strauss 55 (115b 6x4) M Muralitharan 15.3-6-26-3
45.1 Muralitharan to Pietersen, OUT, Murali gets the big one!! Murali tosses it up, KP comes down the track at first, then picks the top spinner, tries to defend, but by then the ball thuds into his pads, deflects to the inside of his gloves and then lobs up to the wicketkeeper - KP stands his ground, but Umpire Rudi Koertzen finally sends him on his way
KP Pietersen c Dilshan b Muralitharan 6 (17b 0x4 0x6) sr: 35.29
England 120/4 KP Pietersen 6 (17b) M Muralitharan 18.1-6-30-4
45.5 Muralitharan to Flintoff, OUT, Murali that magic man .. this is disaster for England!! all of a sudden the whole of Trent Bridge goes quiet - there's a hush in the ground. Murali throws it up now, Flintoff comes forward to defend, the turning ball takes the inside edge of the English captain's bat and lobs up to the man at forward short leg, its a simple catch for Dilshan - that was an important catch, and an important wicket for Sri Lanka - that's the 100th time Muralitharan has taken 5 wickets or more in an innings
A Flintoff c Dilshan b Muralitharan 0 (4b 0x4 0x6) sr: 0.00
England 120/5 A Flintoff 0 (4b) M Muralitharan 18.5-6-30-5
49.4 Muralitharan to Collingwood, OUT, tossed up delivery from Murali, that pitched on the off stump, keeps low, Collingwood goes back to work it away to the onside, the ball comes off the bat, onto the boot and lobs up in the air, the man at forward short leg Dilshan does brilliantly to dive to his right and comes up with the ball inches off the ground - the onfield umpire Rudi Koertzen isn't sure if it was a bump ball, he checks with his colleague at squareleg Darrell Hair, he too isn't sure - and the duo decide to go upstairs - the third umpire decides Paul Collingwood has to go back. Sri Lanka on a roll here now!!
PD Collingwood c Dilshan b Muralitharan 9 (39b 0x4 0x6) sr: 23.07
England 125/6 PD Collingwood 9 (39b) M Muralitharan 20.4-7-33-6
Labels: murali
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Farveez Maharoof, that noted all-rounder, bowled 0 balls in the match. Sri Lanka certainly deserved to tie the series, though. They showed far more application than England for long periods of each match.
It's a shame this has overshadowed Monty's five wickets - he finished the series with a bowling average of 21, which is better than anyone bar Murali. Given the conditions, I think that's an exceptional performance.
geoff: Good spot. He was probably picked as a specialist batsman :) What was Jayasuriya picked for btw? :) I think England lost this game when they let Sri Lanka's tail get nearly 100 runs. Monty bowled superbly ... and tonked a few good ones too yesterday! He'll become a national hero soon. Btw do you have a blog? I've not seen you link to yours so far.
By 
Jagadish (6 Jun 2006, 11:11:00 am)
Kapugedera, you are a legend!
By Ganesh (6 Jun 2006, 11:15:00 am)
Kapugewhatever, you're too good. But the interesting thing [when I watched the highlights this morning] is that when the run out did happen, the Sri Lankan players' first reaction was elation at the fact that one more had gone down. It was only a little while later that they'd have realized the enormity of the dismissal!
By Jagadish (6 Jun 2006, 11:22:00 am)
Jagadish: no, I don't. It's much easier to comment on those of other people, although mostly that's confined to here and on occassion Pratyush's. As the saying goes: criticism is easier than craftsmanship.
England's current national heroes in two sports are...well, let's say they're not in the classical mould. Peter Crouch and Monty Panesar?
geoff. I reckon Peter Crouch is a footballer. Why're he and Panesar in the same league?
By Jagadish (6 Jun 2006, 7:12:00 pm)
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