By Melissa Meehan
MARANATHA Methodist Cricket Club will welcome international cricketing superstars Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas to Endeavour Hills in February.
In an arrangement with the Aus-Lanka Cricket Academy Sri Lankan bowlers Muralitharan and Vaas have made a commitment to visit the club during their stay in Melbourne during the One Day International series against Australia beginning this month.
Casey councillor Rob Wilson, secretary of the MMCC, said the Sri Lankan stars would attend a meet-and-greet session with players at the club and might even run a training session.
“One of the fathers of our players has an association with the Aus-Lanka Cricket Academy, and they were able to organise this. It’s fantastic for the club,” Cr Wilson said. Muralitharan, 35, is one of the world’s most recognised spin bowlers.
He recently became the second player in history to reach 700 wickets on an international scale after taking his 26th wicket in the home Test series against Bangladesh. Muralitharan is at present second behind Australian Shane Warne for the greatest number of Test wickets of all time. Warne retired this year with 708 test wickets to his name.
Muralitharan will begin to chase Warne’s record when the first Test gets underway in Brisbane on 8 November.
Taking six wickets a Test on average, Muralitharan is not expected to break the record until the second Test, starting in Hobart on 16 November.
Vaas, 31, is classed as Sri Lanka’s second best bowler behind Muralitharan and is one of the country’s most successful new-ball bowlers.
A left-arm fast-medium bowler, Vaas has also gained recognition as a useful allrounder. In 1994-95 he outbowled New Zealand to give Sri Lanka its first overseas Test win. In 2001-02 Vaas became the second fast bowler to take 14 wickets in a match in the subcontinent. In 2004 he was selected for the World XI at the inaugural ICC Awards.
With the assistance of these two talented cricketers the MMCC players are hoping to pick up a few tricks to keep up their sleeves.
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