By Rex Wijewardene

Bishen Bedi one of those great bowlers of spin produced by India in the past, appears to have got up from a deep slumber, and suddenly realised that Sri Lanka’s wizard of spin Murali is a chucker. To add insult to injury, he goes on to describe him as a Javelin thrower, more than a bowler, which just proves his shallow thinking.

The former West Indies fast bowler M. Holding, appears to add venom to this controversy, when he says that he is in 100% agreement, with Bedis’ opinion that the Lanka’s spinner’s bowling action is illegal, his comments could be most damaging as he heads the ICC technical committee, on illegal bowling actions, the final authority. The ICC on this issue agreed that the Sri Lankan spinner’s bowling action was legal, way back in 1998, and cleared him of throwing.

Murali has been in international cricket for the last ten years, so it took them that long to realise he was a chucker. Bob Woolmer the ICC’s High Performance Manager, has aired similar views regards the Lankan spinner. I presume they are living in a Fool’s Paradise. The sad aspect is these unwanted comments, on his bowling action, comes in the wake of the fourthcoming ICC championship trophy in September and the world cup in South Africa in March 2003. In this backdrop one gets the impression that there is a sinister move in this episode. Holding may still have not got over the humiliating 3 Nil whitewash the West-Indies suffered against Sri Lanka. As for Woolmer, he may have focused his thoughts on the coming tour of England by Sri Lanka, and realised this bowler will be a thorn in the flesh of the England’s batsmen. As for Bedi’s comments, it was a cheap publicity stunt, which holds no water. The views of this trio is just a comedy of errors. All this will have no impact on Murali, he is made of sterner stuff. In this backdrop that old adage comes to my mind "Let barking dogs bark the caravan moves on".