Tony Becca

THE SECOND Test between Australia and Sri Lanka is now under way in Hobart. Before it is over, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, with 702 wickets in his bag, could surpass Australia's Shane Warne, with 708, as the world's leading wicket-taker, and if it does happen, it should be a happy and wonderful occasion with toasts and handshakes all around.

The way things were a few days ago, however, it did not seem that that would have been the case, and that would have been a pity.

According to reports coming out of Australia, based on comments made by Warne, Muralitharan, the off-spinner, had been firing away at Warne, the leg-spinner, it appeared as if there was no love lost between them and that they would never, ever speak to each other again.

Throughout his career, Muralitharan has been dogged by accusations that he throws, an he has been cleared on all three occasions that he has been tested, the accusation continues he did not accuse Muralitharan of throwing, based on reports coming out of Australia, Warne, writing in News Ltd. newspapers, had said that he should be tested under match conditions, and that angered Muralitharan.

"I am very disappointed with what he wrote," said Muralitharan in the Sydney Morning Herald a day or two ago. "He can't keep his mouth shut because he wants to keep making these comments. He must be a miserable man in his life. But that is his opinion and there is nothing I can do about it. Maybe he doesn't want me to pass his record."

Burying the hatchet

Starting this series, Australia and Sri Lanka will contest the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, the unveiling was scheduled to take place on the opening day of the second Test, and Muralitharan had vowed that while he would shake Warne's hand at the ceremony he would not speak to him.

Fortunately for the game, however, after talking it over, the two most successful spin bowlers of all time, the two most successful bowlers of all time, have apparently buried the hatchet.

According to Muralitharan, it was all a misunderstanding, a "miscommunication".

"I spoke with Murali about it this morning, so I'm pretty happy actually," said Warne. "I'm not that miserable. I've got absolutely no issue with Murali and his action or anything like that.

"All I've said in my column that I wrote was that commonsense should prevail. If umpires or anybody has any issue with actions - I'm not saying Murali's but anyone's in world cricket - then they should be tested in match conditions."

"There is no issue at all," Muralitharan told AAP. "I thought he said something about my bowling action and then I said he was a miserable man. We just talked to each other and patched it up. It was a miscommunication more than anything else."

It really may have been a miscommunication, and it may not have been. One will probably never know the truth.

As one who played the game as a youngster, however, as one who has spent most of his life around the game, as one who admires greatness, and as one who witnessed a touching moment, one that I have related to my friends on many occasions and one that I will never forget, I am happy that two champions, that two of the best, whether one really throws or not, have settled their differences and still respect each other.

Respecting each other

At around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 8, 2003, the day of the opening ceremony of World Cup 2003, I was sitting with a friend of mine from Trinidad and Tobago in the bar at the Cullinan Waterfront hotel in Cape Town. I was facing the bar and in the bar were cricketers from Australia, England, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and they were all laughing, talking and having a good time.

One of them, at the end of the bar to my right, was Muralitharan. Suddenly, he looked towards the door on my left and started smiling. I looked to my left, and there was Warne coming from elevator, he was walking towards the bar, and he started smiling.

I looked to my right again and I saw Muralitharan walking towards the door. I looked to me left, and Warne was walking through the door. They met almost in front of me, they hugged each other, they patted each other on the back, they looked around, there was a vacant table nearby, they simul-taneously pointed to it, they went and sat down, they shook hands again, the waiter came, they ordered a drink and they started talking.

I could not and did not hear what they were saying, but one was rolling his wrist as if delivering a leg break, or a flipper, the other was flicking his wrist as if delivering an off break, or a doosra, and based on the smiles and the response to each other, it was obvious that sitting there and enjoying each other's company, on the eve of the World Cup, were two champions who respected each other and who admired their respective art and amazing skill.