Australia will play Muralitharan with confidence: Julian
March 3rd, 2011 - 1:16 pm ICT by ANIMelbourne, Mar 3 (ANI): Former Australian fast bowler Brendon Julian has said that Ricky Ponting’s team will play Sri Lankan off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan without fear during their World Cup encounter on Saturday.
Muralitharan’s exploits against Australia in one-day cricket have yielded a modest 53 wickets at 31.15, compared to an incredible career average of 23.20.
Only India has a better record against Muralitharan, reducing the all-time one-day international leading wicket taker to an average of 31.26 against them.
“I think (Australia’s record against Murali) will give them a bit of confidence going into the game … they’ll be quietly confident they can play him well,” Julian told Foxsports.com.au.
“I think Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke have played him quite well and been quite aggressive against him. There’s no doubt he’s not as good as he was five or six years ago, but he’s still good enough to bowl a team out and win a game. (Australia) will still show him that respect,” he said.
By handling Muralitharan, Australia shouldn’t think that the job is done, as they have a poor away record against Sri Lanka, winning just six from 19 matches against the island nation since 1992. (ANI)
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