Dave Fulton believes England must develop a method of playing Sri Lanka's star spinner to prosper.
Dave Fulton believes England must develop a method of playing Sri Lanka's star spinner to prosper on their tour
The spectre of Muttiah Muralitharan looms larger by the day for England's batsmen ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, which begins in Kandy on 1st December.
England know that if they are to win the series they will have to conquer the little magician who needs just five wickets to overtake Shane Warne as the leading wicket-taker in the history of the game,
Murali has so often proved to be England's nemesis and, after a mauling by a rampant Australian batting line-up, suddenly has more than usual to prove.
Murali will find the wickets in his homeland more to his liking than the true bouncy surfaces of Brisbane and Tasmania, however. Sri Lankan pitches tend to be low and slow which makes scoring against him off the backfoot perilous and they will spin sharply.
The key is to start well against him - something England could not do on their last trip in 2003/4. Murali took 7-46 in the first innings of the first Test in Galle and followed it up with 4-47 in the second.
Although England clung on for a draw - a feat they repeated in the second Test in Kandy - he had dished out enough psychological punishment to land a knock-out in the third Test in Colombo.
Ironically, with only seven wickets, it was his least fruitful match of the series but the forty overs he bowled during England's first innings realised just 40 runs as the visitors failed to break free from his shackles.
There has been much talk this week of executing plans against him. Ian Bell has never played a Test against Sri Lanka and has been at pains to find his best method or "plan" to combat the off-spinner. Merlin, the bowling machine which replicates the variations of the world's best spin bowlers, has been working over-time.
Crucial
"I'm having to learn pretty quickly but I've been working with Andy (Flower, England's batting coach) on finding a method so that when I get to that first Test I'm really confident of a game plan and I stick to it," Bell said.
Sticking to your plan is crucial as a batsman. It doesn't mean pre-meditating shots but playing within one's capabilities. Murali offers unique challenges: big spinning deliveries that can go either way with little discernible change of action.
Starting against him is the hardest bit, but you can rarely take liberties with him at any stage of your innings. Phil Jacques, the Australian whose debut century againt Sri Lanka in Brisbane was a lesson in concentration and run accumulation, lost composure shortly after reaching three figures deciding to advance down the pitch to Murali for the first time in his innings. He was duly stumped.
Having captained Murali at the back end of 2003, I know what a weapon he can be for a side. I also know that the batsmen who played him best made good use of the sweep shot.
At Lord's, David Nash, the Middlesex keeper, scored a century against us and I would think that his only scoring shots off Murali were the sweep and the reverse sweep.
Eventually I moved eight fielders onto the leg side in an attempt to get him to play a cover drive but still he resisted the temptation and stuck to his plans.
Similar mental fortitude will be required if England are to prevail in what is a notoriously difficult place to tour.
