Fleming wary of Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken 19 wickets so far © Getty Images

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Stephen Fleming believes the threat posed by Muttiah Muralitharan is greater now that at any time in the master off-spinner’s record-breaking career.

Murali goes into the World Cup semi-final between Sri Lanka and Fleming’s New Zealand with 19 wickets in the tournament so far.

As the first bowler to have taken more than 1,000 international wickets, Murali has struck fear into opponents the world over for the past decade.
Fleming senses too that, at the age of 35, Sri Lanka’s most potent weapon is still improving.

“He’s getting the same if not more wickets than he did when he started out - and most bowlers improve with time,” he said.

“With experience, he’s probably become a more savvy bowler.

“We always expect him to be better every time we play him and, with the stage getting bigger with each game at the World Cup, we know he will be performing well.”

Murali took 3-32 against New Zealand in Sri Lanka’s six-wicket Super Eight win in Grenada 12 days ago and Fleming’s team will be very wary of him again at Sabina Park.

“Each time you play him you realise how good he is, and that provides more challenges,” Fleming added.

Muralitharan is improving as a spin bowler © Getty Images

“He’s adding to his armoury every day. We’ve just got to be smart with him.”

Fleming is aware too, though, that Murali is far from the only danger man in a Sri Lanka attack for which he has great respect.

“If you get through a 0-40 or 1-40 from him you are doing okay,” he said.

“But the challenge is that those other 40 overs have (Lasith) Malinga and (Chaminda) Vaas, who are also just as effective.”

Each of the above - as well as pace bowler Dilhara Fernando - have been missing from the Sri Lanka team at some point over the past two weeks.

Mahela Jayawardene has been criticised for the selection policy, with only Malinga missing because of a significant injury while the others were simply given a break.

“The whole point of resting those guys was to keep them fresh,” said Jayawardene.

“They are not getting any younger and in a big tournament like this you need to keep your best players fresh.

“That was part of the plan, and we think it has worked. This is the big one for us now and everybody is fit.”

Fleming is not the only captain warning his team of the threat from opposing bowlers.

Shane Bond is a danger to the Sri Lanka team © Getty Images

Jayawardene also knows that the Kiwis’ Shane Bond is a danger.

“Shane is their strike bowler up front, and then they have Daniel (Vettori) as well - so those are the people we must concentrate on,” he said.

“If Shane is on the mark we will have to respect him, if not we could take him on.”

Jayawardene has little regard, though, for the theory that Sri Lanka’s batsmen may struggle with the extra bounce available in Jamaica compared to Guyana and Grenada where they played the majority of their Super Eight matches.

“Like any other batsmen in the world we like the ball to come on,” he added.

“That’s what we enjoy, because it’s much easier to score runs.”

With both teams able to pick from fully fit squads, Sri Lanka’s main decision was whether to welcome back Fernando or keep all-rounder Farveez Maharoof in the team.

For New Zealand, all-rounder Scott Styris suffered a minor finger injury on Monday but was thought likely to recover in time while Jacob Oram (heel) and Bond (stomach upset) are available again.