* 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer

These extraordinary performances led Muttiah Muralitharan to state that Lara was the most dangerous batsman he had ever faced.

The first was won with Cronje scoring 49 and 74 ; in the second Test, he took 3 / 14, his best bowling in Tests, and smashed 82 off 63 balls, his fifty being brought up with three consecutive sixes off Muttiah Muralitharan, and was reached off just 31 balls ; at the time, it was the second fastest in Tests after Kapil Dev's.

During the 1995 Boxing Day Test at the MCG, Australian umpire Darrell Hair called Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing the ball, rather than bowling it, seven times during the match.

Muttiah Muralitharan (; ) ( also spelt as Muralidaran ; born 1972 ), often referred to as Murali, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers ' Almanack in 2002.

In February 2009, after becoming cricket's highest wicket-taker in both forms of the game Muttiah Muralitharan hinted that he might retire at the conclusion of the 2011 World Cup.

Muralitharan was born in the village of Nattarampotha in Kundasale ( near Kandy ), the eldest of the four sons to Sinnasamy Muttiah and Lakshmi.

Muttiah Muralitharan holds Overseas Citizenship of India ( OCI ) and he does not need a visa for travelling to India.

Muttiah Muralitharan signed for the Melbourne Renegades to play Twenty20 cricket in the Big Bash League, in 2012.

During the second Test between Sri Lanka and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day 1995, Australian umpire Darrell Hair called Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing in front of a crowd of 55, 239.

Notable contemporary off spinners include, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, who has the most wickets in both ODIs and Test matches, Saqlain Mushtaq and Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan and Graeme Swann of England.

** Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer

In Oct 2010, Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan called him one of the best players in cricket on par with Sachin Tendulkar.

After accusations of ball tampering were levelled against the tourists in the First Test, leading spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was no-balled seven times in the Second Test, and during the ODI series, the Sri Lankans accused Taylor's men of cheating.

Steve Waugh described Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan as " the Don Bradman of bowling ", while former Australian Prime Minister John Howard was called " the Don Bradman of politics " by his Liberal Party colleague Joe Hockey.

However, a second method used by Muttiah Muralitharan is for the arm to be rotated further so that the back of the hand is facing the batsman ; the ball is then given a large amount of spin by flexion of the wrist.

Muttiah Muralitharan, Tim May, and Harbhajan Singh are examples of offspinners who frequently used this delivery.

* May 8 – Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan breaks Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets with his 520th wicket against Zimbabwe in Harare

He achieved his 300th wicket on 12 December 2005 against India, becoming only the second Sri Lankan bowler to pass this milestone, after Muttiah Muralitharan.

Yuvraj Singh became his 400th ODI victim and consequently Vaas joined the illustrious company of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and his team mate Muttiah Muralitharan as only the fourth bowler in international cricket to have taken 400 ODI wickets.

* December 26 in Melbourne – umpire Darrell Hair no balls Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan seven times for throwing in the second Test against Australia.

This record was later broken in 2004 by Muttiah Muralitharan.

Walsh is one of only four bowlers to have bowled over 5000 overs in Test cricket, the other three being spinners: Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and Shane Warne of Australia, and Anil Kumble of India.

He managed to score just three runs before being dismissed by Muttiah Muralitharan.

A specialist bowler, he has the second-highest number of Test wickets by an off spinner, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

McGrath holds the world record for the highest number of Test wickets by a fast bowler and is fourth on the all-time list, with the top three wicket takers Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, and Anil Kumble all being spin bowlers.

When Muttiah Muralitharan withdrew from the 2004 tour to Australia, Chandana came into the Test side as the main spin bowler.

In February 2009 he was ranked as the world's fifth-best Test bowler behind Muttiah Muralitharan, Dale Steyn, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson, but had dropped to being 25th-best ODI bowler, according to the ICC rankings.

In particular, he is a vehement critic of the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan (" if Murali doesn't chuck, then show me how to bowl " ) which he bluntly refers to as cheating and likens to a javelin throw and more recently, shot putting, saying that Muralitharan " will complete 1000 Test wickets but they would count as mere run-outs in my eyes ".

Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka and Graeme Swann of England are two of the most successful bowlers in Test and ODI cricket history, is an off-spinner, although his bowling style is unusual.

* 8 May-Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan breaks Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets with his 520th wicket against Zimbabwe in Harare.

* 13 July-Shane Warne equals Muttiah Muralitharan's world record of 527 Test wickets, against Sri Lanka in Cairns.

Sri Lanka won that Test, with Muttiah Muralitharan claiming his 709th Test wicket to go past Shane Warne as the highest wicket taker in Test cricket.

This match featured the Essex 1st XI vs an All Star XI, which included leading Test wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan and former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff among others.

In the first World Cricket Tsunami Appeal charity match, he was promoted to bat at number 6 ahead of specialist batsmen Stephen Fleming and Matthew Hayden, but was dismissed first ball trying to slog Muttiah Muralitharan.

The press at the time suggested that Giles was to match Muttiah Muralitharan in wicket taking, but he dismissed this idea.

On 7 October 2007 Maharoof took his 100th wicket in his 75th ODI ; at the time he was the fastest Sri Lankan to reach the landmark, beating Muttiah Muralitharan by one match, however this record was later taken by fast bowler Lasith Malinga in 2010 who reached 100 wickets in 68 matches.

The match is notable for Ross Emerson's no-balling of Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing, which led the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga to lead his team to the edge of the field and consider walking out of the match, as well as physical shoulder-barging by some players.

Cairns also contributed the shot of the match, a straight-driven 6 off Muttiah Muralitharan from halfway down the pitch.

The Galle stadium is also noted for the fact that in 2010 it was the stadium that hosted the last match of arguably one of the best cricketer produced by Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan.

He holds the world record for most wickets in List A cricket with 881 and is second only to Sri Lankan off-spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan in terms of ODI wickets with 502.

* Akram was the first bowler in international cricket to take more than 400 wickets in both forms of the game and only Muttiah Muralitharan has since achieved this.

During the most recent controversy involving the bowling action of Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan, which led to an International Cricket Council investigation of most of the world's international-class bowlers, Sarwan was found to be the only bowler tested who did not transgress the Laws of Cricket regarding the straightening of the arm during delivery.

Muttiah Muralitharan, arguably the world's best spin bowler, came in for most of the punishment, being hit for seven sixes in just three overs.