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Muralitharan's wait for WR continues
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November 20, 2007 10:17 IST

Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will have to wait for next month's series against England [Images] to break Shane Warne's [Images] world record for most Test wickets after failing to achieve the feat in Australia.

- Australia win second Test

Muralitharan began the two-Test series against Australia needing just eight wickets to equal Warne's record haul of 708 but only managed four victims at an average of 100.

The 35-year-old Muralitharan is planning to play international cricket for at least another four years so it is only a matter of time before he breaks Warne's record but he had been desperately hoping to break the record on Australian soil to amend one of the anomalies in his brilliant career.

While his 704 wickets have come at an average of 21.77, he has managed only 12 wickets at 75.41 in five tests -- including one for the ICC [Images] -- in Australia and failed to make any impact in this series.

Muralitharan's team mate Kumar Sangakkara said the team were disappointed he did not break the record in Australia but had tried not to let it distract them from the match.

"If we were going to focus entirely on the fact that this is Murali's record I think that would have taken something away from the team's focus," Sangakkara said on Monday.

"Murali understands it and the guys understand it and we've always had an enormous amount of love and respect for Murali just because he is a champion and his efforts help the team.

"We are disappointed for him, he's disappointed himself, but it's not the end of the world for Murali, he has got many more years of test cricket to go."

Sangakkara said the disappointment of missing out on the record in Australia would long be forgotten if Muralitharan gets the record at home next month.

"He has got three Tests against England coming up so the record for him is a given," Sangakkara said.

"Unfortunately we could not do it on Australian soil. That would have been the ideal way for him to achieve it but that is the way the game goes."

Warne, who retired earlier this year, said he expected Muralitharan to eventually take 1000 Test wickets before he retires but was glad to hold his record a little longer.

"It was nice the Australian boys have allowed me to hold on to the record for an extra week, but it's only a matter of time before Murali gets it," Warne told Hobart's Mercury newspaper.

"Hopefully the England boys make him work hard in Sri Lanka [Images] as well.

"The boys played him extremely well in this series, but he will go on and get a 1000."




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