Friday, November 16, 2001 Cricket writers prefer blondes. That's why Brett Lee will always trump Shoaib Akhtar as a fast-bowling glamour puss. It's also why Muttiah Muralitharan will never really hold a candle to Shane Warne. But the facts and figures were clearly spelled out in Wisden Cricket Monthly's November issue - and they tell a different story.

If he continues taking wickets at his career rate of 5.3 a match, Murali, Sri Lanka's best-known Tamil, will reach 500 by his 95th Test. That might even be an underestimate: Murali averages over six wickets per match in the last two years. You wouldn't bet against him nailing six an innings against West Indies.

Warne will hit the magic 500 between his 110th and 115th Tests, but I doubt he will go on much beyond. Murali, however, has declared that he wants 600 (we're talking Test No. 114 at the present rate). Spinners were once thought to mature in their thirties, when they supposedly become wise enough for the rigours of Test cricket. Murali already has over 350 wickets and he is a mere 29.

Flight, zip, control, deception, aggression, and endurance: Murali is a master. His deformed elbow helps get purchase that other bowlers can only dream of. But that doesn't mean his action is illegal. And Murali can thank the heavens he is flourishing in the age of Harry Potter and high-tech wizardry. His talent would have been hounded out of the game in a bygone era. It nearly was in ours.

Saqlain, for all the guile of his doosra, is no match. And Murali's superiority is not explained by helpful conditions: both offspinners play home games on similar surfaces. Warne can't use that excuse either. Australian pitches suit legspin, and he has a poor record in Asia.

But Sri Lanka's feeble bowling leaves Murali with plenty of wickets to hoover up. Could this explain his statistical success? Possibly, but there are disadvantages too: Murali creates pressure but it is quickly eased by his plodding partners. See him off and you are in the runs - as England discovered earlier this year. Instead, Warne's prey has McGrath, Gillespie, and Lee for light relief. In that death trap a swish at the leggie is a soft option.

The clincher is strike rate. Warne's is worse, marginally, and he doesn't have to bowl to Australian batsmen. The world record will be Warne's before long but it will be Murali's for longer. In the end Warne only beats him for brashness. Not bad for a boy from Sri Lanka's minority community - coming from Kandy, he had to be a confectioner's son. Sri Lanka's greatest? For sure. The best spinner ever? He has a case.

Born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, Kamran Abbasi is assistant editor of the BMJ. His Asian View appears every Friday on Wisden.com.

More Kamran Abbasi
Sort it out, ICC
Rhetoric must become reality

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd