Forty-two wickets in four Tests. It's almost too much to take in. But Muttiah Muralitharan, a little man with a big smile and a deformed elbow is on a roll, and nobody can stop him. He has now single-handedly won four Tests in a row (against India, Bangladesh and West Indies, twice), returning combined figures of 270.5-78-612-42. In this deep-purple patch he has averaged 14.57, taken a wicket once every six and a half overs, and begrudged runs at the miserly rate of 2.26. The other Sri Lankan bowlers have returned figures of 444-117-1250-34 (average 36.76, and a wicket every 13 overs) in the same period.

But the one-man show gets better, because 25 of his 42 wickets have come without the aid of a team-mate: 14 bowled, 10 lbw, and one caught and bowled. Nine of his victims have been dismissed for a duck, and a further nine in single-figures. And 26 of them have been recognised batsmen.

The rabbits he has pulled out of his hat most often have been the young West Indian duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marlon Samuels, who have been Muralied four times in four innings. Colin Stuart is next with three, and seven other batsmen have been dismissed twice, including Brian Lara, Carl Hooper and Indian openers SS Das and Sadagoppan Ramesh. In all, Murali has got rid of 24 different batsmen in the last four Tests.

He has now taken 371 wickets in just 68 Tests at a rate of 5.46 per match. Only eight bowlers lie ahead of him in the alltime Test wicket-taking list.

The figures

v India, Colombo (SSC), Aug/Sept 2001
1st inns 34.1-9-87-8
2nd inns 46.5-17-109-3

v Bangladesh, Colombo (SSC), Sept 2001
1st inns 9.4-4-13-5
2nd inns 35.3-6-98-5

v West Indies, Galle, Nov 2001
1st inns 53.4-11-126-6
2nd inns 31.3-10-44-5

v West Indies, Kandy, Nov 2001
1st inns: 23.4-5-54-4
2nd inns: 35.5-16-81-6

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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