In the course of his 11th Test century, Graham Thorpe continued a mastery of Muttiah Muralitharan that only Brian Lara has surpassed in recent times. The days when all English batsmen played top-class spin like someone who has dropped the soap in the bath are over. Our graph shows Thorpe's footwork when facing Murali during his first-innings 123. He played forward to over 70% of his deliveries (75 out of 107), a sensible tactic to smother the spin when the ball is turning so prodigiously. But ironically, he was much more productive off the back foot - Thorpe scored 25 off 27 balls (equivalent to runs 5.55 per over), many of them from a series of sublime late cuts and glides. Off the front foot he managed 18 off 75 balls: that's 1.44 per over.

In all Thorpe made 48 runs off Muralitharan. That takes their career head-to-head to 162 runs for twice out. Given that Murali has a career average of 23, for Thorpe to have a personal average of 81 against him is extremely impressive.

Thorpe certainly benefits from his left-handedness. Although the wonder ball to Mark Butcher might have suggested otherwise, Murali generally does not enjoy bowling to left-handers. Only 17% of his Test wickets have been southpaws. By way of comparison, the figure for Glenn McGrath's - Murali's rival for the tag of the world's best bowler - is 30%.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd