Record wicket-taker Muralitharan to retire

The Sri Lanka spinner, leading wicket-taker in both Tests and one-day internationals, announced today he will be be retiring from the five-day game at the end of the Galle Test match against India, which begins on 18 July. The 38-year-old, who made his Test debut in 1992, has taken 792 wickets in 132 Tests and 515 wickets in 337 ODIs, but has always been dogged by controversy. His unusual action caused umpires to no-ball him for throwing in the early stages of his Test career, before the International Cricket Council altered their guidelines to allow for a measure of tolerance for the straightening of a bowler's elbow during delivery.

Atherton, a former Lancashire team-mate of Muralitharan, said: "It's a controversy that will always be linked with him but, regardless of whether you think the arm straightened or not, it's still an incredibly skilful thing to do - which is turn it the amount he did, bowl it with the accuracy that he did, have the stamina that he did."

For much of his career, Muralitharan was involved in a battle for superiority with Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne. The pair, the only bowlers in history to take more than 700 Test scalps, were in competition to be the world's leading wicket-taker, but Muralitharan ultimately triumphed following Warne's retirement.

Atherton said: "One was a leg-spinner and one was an off-spinner but they were both in a sense wrist-spinners because Murali was a very unorthodox off-spinner - he bowled with his wrists rather than his fingers. Who was better? I think for myself Warne was better. I felt he had a better cricketing brain. But that's not to take anything away from Murali, who had a kind of freakish brilliance."

Another record Muralitharan holds is the most balls bowled in Test cricket, which stands at 43,669. Muralitharan had been due to retire from Tests later in the year anyway, but yesterday announced he had brought his plans forward.

His decision to retire solely from Tests means he will still be available for next year's World Cup, co-hosted by Sri Lanka.