Counties to lose Murali and Shoaib
David Hopps
Friday January 14, 2000
Lancashire are resigned to losing their spin
wizard Muttiah Muralitharan because of
his international commitments with Sri
Lanka.
Pakistan are planning a tour of Sri Lanka in
June and if it goes ahead, Lancashire will
have to tear up Muralitharan's contract
and search for a new overseas star. The
same tour could also mean that
Nottinghamshire will drop the Pakistan
fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar as their
overseas player.
Coincidentally both players have been at
the centre of controversies over their
bowling action.
Murali is contracted to Old Trafford for the
next two years after his sensational
introduction to county cricket last season
when he earned 65 wickets in six
championship games. But the deal
stipulated that he would have to be
available for at least 10 championship
matches - and the Pakistan tour, coupled
with South Africa's visit to Sri Lanka,
would make that impossible.
"We are waiting for word from Pakistan,"
said Lancashire's cricket secretary Dave
Edmundson. Lancashire expect to make a
decision over the weekend. A possible
alternative to the 27-year-old Sri Lankan
is the Australian leg-spinner Stuart
MacGill.
Nottinghamshire have approached their
former overseas player, the New Zealand
all-rounder Chris Cairns, as a potential
replacement for Shoaib.
"We are very concerned that Pakistan
have now arranged three tours during the
English summer - in addition to the one
we already knew about - and we are
awaiting confirmation from the cricket
board about how this will affect Shoaib's
availability," said Mick Newell,
Nottinghamshire's assistant cricket
manager.
If all Pakistan's potential tours are
finalised, Shoaib would be available for as
few as five championship and six National
League matches, which clearly would be
unsustainable.
Pakistan's three-Test series in the West
Indies, which finishes in late May, is a
long-standing arrangement. But that will
now be immediately followed by the Asia
Cup in Dhaka until June 5, and the
potential tour to Sri Lanka until the end of
July. The Sahara Cup, in Toronto, would
also rob Nottinghamshire of Shoaib for the
last week of the season.
"If Shoaib is available under the conditions
that we signed him, he remains our first
choice, but we are obviously concerned.
We have spoken to Chris Cairns but this is
purely plan B, so that we are not left
without an overseas player."
Newell insisted that the dispute over
Shoaib's bowling action, which the
International Cricket Council's illegal
deliveries panel will again scrutinise next
month, had no bearing on the contract
issue.