SL hurt by Crowe’s comments

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene has said the criticism Martin Crowe levelled at Muttiah Muralitharan during the second Test in Wellington has hurt the team.

While on commentary for Sky Television, Crowe commented strongly that Muralitharan’s doosra looked to be breaking the 15-degree bent arm law.

Crowe followed that up by saying that due to his past, Murali’s action should be checked after every series and should not be done in a science lab but in live match conditions.

Jayawardene hit back at the comments from Crowe saying all bowlers have a flex in their arm and it wasn’t fair to single out Muralitharan.

Muralitharan took match figures of 10-118 in the second Test helping lead Sri Lanka to a 217 run victory and level the two Test series 1-1.

The teams remain in Wellington for the first of two Twenty20 internationals to be played at Westpac Stadium on 22nd December.