Revisiting Adelaide 1999
Arjuna takes on Ross Emerson

Rex Clementine reporting from Adelaide

Adelaide, Australia, Feb. 18, 2008: Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan inspects the Adelaide wicket a day prior to the Australia vs Sri Lanka ODI. (AP PHOTO)

The world looked stunned and saw the events unfold at the Adelaide Oval on 23rd of January 1999. For young and old Sri Lankan cricket fans, this was D-Day.

They had put up for years with the crap the Australian players, officials and umpires had been unfairly giving them and Arjuna Ranatunga took the Australian establishment head-on, putting his career in danger.

Sri Lanka's captain Arjuna Ranatunga (center) indicates to Match Referee Peter van der Merwe that he's disappointed with umpire Ross Emerson's decision to no-ball Muttiah Muralitharan. Ranatunga walked off after the bowler was called for throwing at the Adelaide Oval in 1999.

Today, as the Sri Lankans play their fifth ODI of the Commonwealth Bank Series against India, we look back at the events that unfolded on that day where a spirited effort from the Sri Lankans saw them successfully chasing a stiff target, under lights.

Muralitharan had been called in his only previous tour to Australia four years ago by three different umpires and Ross Emerson was one of them. But in 1998-1999, when the Sri Lankans toured Australia, apparently, they had been given a verbal guarantee that there would be no unsavoury incidents.

In fact, the Australian Cricket Board even removed controversial umpire Darrel Hair from its panel of umpires for that Carlton & United Series, following a breach of Code of Conduct in writing his book ‘The Decision Maker.’

The series went on without any incident until the Sri Lankans arrived at the Adelaide Oval for their day-night encounter against England.

Ahead of the game, they suffered severe blow when their key batsman Aravinda de Silva was ruled out with a thigh injury and he was replaced by rookie Mahela Jayawardene.

Muralitharan was introduced in the 17th over of the England innings and three balls passed without any incident and when Murali delivered the fourth ball, umpire Emerson, at square leg shouted ‘no ball’ and indicated that he had called the Sri Lankan for throwing.

And then followed one of the most significant moments in Sri Lankan cricket history.

Ranatunga held up play, summoned the square leg umpire and confronted him and indicated that he was leaving the field.

He later approached the two batsmen, Nick Knight and Graeme Hick and conveyed that he had had enough.

The captain prevented his players from crossing the boundary rope and instead went to the dressing room and spoke with team manager Ranjit Fernando and coach Roy Dias.

Sanath Jayasuriya, who was the vice-captain in that game, in his column that he wrote for ‘The Island’ last year rememberes the incident vividly.

"I was standing at mid-on or mid-off and when Emerson called Murali for throwing, Arjuna asked Murali to stop bowling and said we were leaving. It was a great act on his part to back Murali, no matter what the outcome was. Murali had been cleared by the ICC and it was only in Australia that he had problems. Having captained Sri Lanka for sometime, I am glad I wasn’t put into a tough situation like that. Arjuna was simply outstanding. The way Arjuna handled the matter sent a clear message to everyone that there’s no messing around with him…. He backed Murali putting his own future in danger and hats off with him," Jayasuriya wrote.

Phone calls were made to Sri Lanka to find out what exactly needed to be done and the team was asked to go on. The Sri Lankans were later joined by Match Referee Peter van der Merwe of South Africa and at that point, Ranatunga showed his displeasure at what was going on.

Play was held up for 14 minutes and the question that everyone asked was why Emerson didn’t call the first three balls. If the first delivery was good enough, then what was the issue with the fourth ball?

After that over, Muralitharan shifted ends and came in from Umpire Emerson’s end and bowled six more overs and there was no more no-balling. But there were further arguments as Ranatunga insisted that Emerson should stand closer to the stumps.

The controversy overshadowed two brilliant hundreds, Graeme Hick’s 126* and Mahela Jayawardene’s 120.

After the incident, Emerson seemed to have been distracted and allowed a seven ball over.

The umpire was criticized for calling Muralitharan, despite the ICC clearing him. Channel Nine was providing the coverage and Sir Ian Botham was on air and took on the Australian umpire. "This bloke has taken over 200 wickets and I can’t understand the big fuss. Heard about whinging Poms, but now I see a whinging Aussie," he said.

Another former England captain Tony Greig, who was also in the commentary panel, stood up for the Sri Lankans.

Then during the run chase, there were more incidents. This time between the players of the two sides and the ill-feelings remained for a few years.

Roshan Mahanama, who was told to bat at number nine ahead of Murali and Pramodaya Wickramasinghe, appeared to have obstructed Darren Gough in attempting a quick single and the bowler almost did a Zinadene Zidane, but stopped short with a feigned head butt. At the end of the over, wicketkeeper and captain Alec Stewart barged into Mahanama.

Stewart was having a go at Ranatunga and the stump microphone picked him up saying, ‘your behaviour today has been appalling for a country captain.’

This was also the game where Ranatunga became the most experienced ODI captain surpassing Alan Border’s record of 178 appearances for Australia.

Jayawardene’s hundred was the platform for the Sri Lankans and there were other useful contributions from Jayasuriya, who made 51 in just 36 balls, and Ranatunga, who made 41. Upul Chandana and Mahanama, who made 25 in 18 and 13 in 11 respectively, also chipped in with timely efforts.