THERE will be minor explosions of righteous indignation around Australia, and in the Shane Warne household in Hampshire, at the news that Muttiah Muralitharan has become the second bowler in history to take 700 Test wickets. And for once, it is hard to disagree with our friends in the southern hemisphere.

Australians may not be right to dismiss all Murali’s works on the grounds that his action is illegal; under the latest definition of what constitutes a “throw” it definitely is not.

But they do have a case for saying the Sri Lankan’s record does not bear worthy comparison with that of Warne, who retired in January with 708 victims to his name, because of the many easy pickings he has garnered from the duffers of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Many of the recent games involving these two countries have been Test matches only in name. Bangladesh lose nearly 60% of their Tests by an innings, while Zimbabwe have lost 13 of their past 25 Tests by the same margin. These aren’t contests, they are carnage. And no bowler has benefited to quite the extent that Murali has.

His 12 wickets in Kandy take his haul in 10 Tests against Bangladesh to 76, while his tally in 14 games against Zimbabwe is 87. This means that of his 700 wickets, 163 - or 23% - have come against this axis of weevils. This is not, of course, Murali’s fault. He can only bamboozle those who are put before him. But as it happens Sri Lanka have played both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe more often than any other major team and as a result their players have enjoyed many luxuriant days.

All this distorts the records and makes meaningful comparisons very difficult. Warne, for instance, made only three Test appearances against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and took only 17 wickets. It might also be worth pointing out that against the two teams that arguably play spin bowling best, Murali’s record is no more than adequate: 55 wickets at 31.4 apiece against Australia, 67 wickets at 32.5 each against India.

Murali, of course, is not alone. Kumar Sangakkara, his teammate, has just helped himself to back-to-back double-centuries against Bangladesh and three years ago took 270 off a miserably weak Zimbabwe attack.

Then there is Sachin Tendulkar, who averages 92.1 against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan’s tireless runmaker, who averages an even cooler 101.7 against these opponents.

Small beer, still, compared to Jacques Kallis, who averages 223.3 against the minnows, or Steve Waugh, who took them for 546 runs for twice out. How these players would no doubt like us all not to mention such things and reflect instead on their Test averages nestling comfortably above 50.

Further insult awaits the Australians. Murali’s next Test series is in their country in November, where they will do well in two matches to prevent him claiming the nine wickets he needs to topple Warne from his perch.

Sweet revenge for Murali, though, after all the Antipodean insults of the past.

Cheap wickets?

Muttiah Muralitharan celebrated his 700th wicket in Test cricket yesterday when he helped dismiss Bangladesh in Kandy. Murali has taken 23% of his wickets against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe compared to his great rival Shane Warne’s 2%

Muralitharan v minor Test countries Zimbabwe 14 Tests, 87 wkts Bangladesh 9 Tests, 76 wkts Tests Wkts Avg Strike rate v minors 23 163 14.6 41.9 v majors 90 537 23.4 50.2 Overall 113 700 21.3 53.4

Shane Warne v minor Test countries Zimbabwe 1 Test, 6 wkts Bangladesh 2 Tests, 11 wkts Tests Wkts Avg Strike rate v minors 3 17 25.7 49.6 v majors 142 691 25.4 57.7 Overall 145 708 25.4 57.4

Leading Test wicket-takers Tests Wickets Shane Warne (Aus) 145 708 Muttiah Muralitharan (SL) 113 700 Glenn McGrath (Aus) 124 563 Anil Kumble (Ind) 115 552