THE retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan from Test cricket marks the departure of one of the giants of the game, a player who made a difference. He is a man with a generous spirit and a love for cricket. And he is not a chucker.

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From personal experience I KNOW Murali has never been a chucker as so many people believe. Shane Warne felt Murali's action was legal, though he was worried that children would copy him and adopt throwing actions. This fear was well founded, and many children, mostly Asians, had to have hideous styles remodelled. That is an unwelcome legacy of this great bowler.

The difference between Murali and the rest of the world has been an arm deformity. The Sri Lankan cannot straighten his arms beyond about 30 degrees. Added to that he has supple wrists and a ton of off-spin talent.  Warne said in an interview with the Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun : "Murali's action has been passed by scientific tests. I always thought it was probably legitimate." It was understandable that Murali was no-balled at the highest level as eyes are easily deceived, but he knew himself he did not throw.

Exasperated, Murali once strapped his right arm into a rigid casing like a plaster cast in July 2004 and bowled to me in the nets at Shenley Park in Hertfordshire to prove his point. So, with his arm immobilised, how could Murali possibly throw his off-spinners and the doosra? The answer is: He couldn't.

The spinners fizzed and the doosra nipped away.  He achieved turn through a vigorous shoulder turn, fast arm and significant wrist action. I watched him from two feet away at the bowler's stumps and faced him at the other end. As always, he could not bowl a quicker ball unless he ran up faster. An ability to fire in something quicker from 'nowhere' is one symptom of a chucker, but Murali could not. That is because he was not a chucker, however much he looked like one.

There is a valid argumant that Murali and any bowler with a kinked action should never have been allowed to bowl whether analysed legal or not. Dubious actions -- the permitted flexion becomes visible at 15 degrees, the ICC limit -- are bad for cricket, but that is another debate.

Warne had a great deal of affection for his Sri Lankan opponent. "Murali simply loved bowling - he loved a challenge and was fantastic for the game," he said. "Sometimes he would pick my brain about different things and, although we always tried to outdo each other, we always got on well."

Muralitharan has one Test left to increase his tally of 792 wickets. Warne retired with 708 wickets. And unlike Murali he didn't have to bowl against Australia...

An afternoon with Muralitharan:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2382168/Murali-puts-the-record-straight.html

THE former Hampshire captain Mark Nicholas, now better known as a television commentator, believes it would be *no shame" if some counties lost their first class status. He is a man who cares deeply about the game, but his words have been penned for the Magic Wand School of Thinking, an institution that serves no real purpose

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Writing in the July issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Nicholas believes that the battle among counties for financial survival is self-serving and damaging the game's resources. "It would be no shame for some counties to relinquish their first class status. Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire – to name four of six or seven – exist for no obviously justifiable reason."

Nicholas continues: "County clubs should be centres of excellence, but too many are not, employing mediocre cricketers from elsewhere. They stumble along the breadline, sustained by money from Sky. The argument made on their behalf by the chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke, is equally self-serving."

A Nicholas blueprint would see six counties removed to leave a 12-team competition playing a season of 11 four-day Championship matches, a 50-over league/cup competition and a Twenty20 competition with semi-finals and a final.

Based on a series of radical alliances and mergers Nicholas puts forward the idea of a new Premier League structure. "Imagine nine Test-match grounds in eight major cities creating a Premiership of Durham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, London North and South, Southampton, Cardiff. Add three from Bristol, Brighton, Canterbury and Chelmsford and eureka, 12 – job done."

Unfortunately this is not a practicable solution, so that Nicholas's thoughts can never be anything but hot air. The words 'self-serving' implies criticism that is remarkably dismissive, and he would have been better off trying to think up something that can be done and which might work. Starting from scratch is not really an option.

The number of counties, 18, is the same ratio per head of population to cricketing states in Australia. Sport in the United Kingdom should be able to support this number, and with the advent of 20-overs cricket the ECB might well be able to reduce hand-out funding in the foreseeable future.

While it is true there are not enough players of the right calibre for a full-time professional circuit, there is no disgrace in signing up has-beens or foreigners to make up the numbers, provided this is not expensive. After all Surrey have hit lean times with few home-grown players in the first team, but no one would suggest they should become extinct.

Rather than reduce the number of counties, amalgamation with minor counties might be a more logical way forward, reducing administrative costs. Where feasible for travel, indoor schools and professional coaching staff could be shared. Gloucestershire -- goodness knows why Mark Nicholas thinks that this important county should disappear -- could amalgamate with Wiltshire and even Oxfordshire.

To some extent Middlesex have already formed a natural alliance with Hertfordshire by relocating their training base from Lord's to Radlett, which has the advantage of widening their player cachment with a logical pathway after age group cricket. Seemingly an obvious choice for the cut, Derbyshire, could join with Staffordshire, tapping into Birmingham resources. Perhaps Somerset could join up with Devon. All this would mean the ECB could create a sensible cost-effective second tier out of the existing Second XI and Minor Counties competitions. This is a more pressing problem than 'too many' professional counties.

There is a strong argument that Twenty20 cricket should be fought between amalgamations in order to utilise the major grounds more often for greater revenue. The smaller counties should gain extra revenue from this, but this is another debate.

REVOLVER cricket, a soft ball training game started in Queensland this year, has been received well in England so far since its introduction in May. It delivers what the inventors claim -- that all players are involved all the time, which does not happen in orthodox formats.

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A coach from Stanmore CC in Middlesex described Revolver as an "egalitarian" game, because all players, even the weaker ones, make important contributions. One of the flaws of orthodox cricket is that a batsman might face only a few balls, even in the Ken Barrington pairs, and might not even reach the crease at all.

In existing formats such as Kwik Cricket,the strongest players tend to dominate at the expense of the less able. This causes frustration (and anger sometimes), and periods of boredom discourage young players from the age of about 10 to about 15. Revolver solves this problem.

Revolver is interesting and ingenious because it is real cricket with a competitive edge. The idea of splitting 15 players into three teams is the key. Every batsman faces 12 balls, no more and no less, and the game is rigorously logged on a special scoresheet. Numbered coloured bibs are required and the game works best with revolving stumps and a dead soft ball such as Incredi-ball.

Revolver has been trialled by Charlie Randall at Radlett CC, the Hertfordshire club, and at Stanmore. Anyone interested in seeing this game in action is welcome to contact charlierandallcricket.com for a demonstration. This is one of the most potent developments in club cricket for a long time. If you think this must be an exaggeration, you would believe it after seeing the children enjoy a competitive Revolver game.

Graham Pulsford, a watching Radlett parent, noted that the movement in an under-10 Revolver game kept the boys on their toes. "All were involved and it seemed to hold their interest. That is very unusual at this age," he said. "Last week in a more orthodox game half the boys were lying around on the ground looking bored. Usually at the end of training the boys start rushing off when they see others starting to leave, but the boys playing Revolver didn't seem to notice."

Mark Shashoua, parent watching the same game, said: "The tracking on the scoresheet is amazing. At this age they're facing a large amount of deliveries. Otherwise they usually face much fewer. It's very good."

Arif Rahman, assistant coach at Radlett and a parent, commented: "It's quite interesting the way the game is set up. Everyone gets a fair go at bowling, batting and fielding, and I could see that the children enjoyed the game. The only thing is to get used to it."

Pulsford added: "With Revolver, however good or bad you are, you get a go at bowling and batting -- and the players know that. One young boy was virtually shunned last week in a normal game because he wasn't very good at all. He was very reluctant to play Revolver at the start. Now he says he wants to play next week. It's remarkable."

www.revolvercricket.com

www.radlettcc.com

THAT superb retired West Indies left-hander Brian Lara is due to return to big cricket when he plays for the MCC against Pakistan in a Twenty20 warm-up game at Lord's on June 27.

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Lara, making his MCC debut for the club's first 20-overs game, and Sourav Ganguly, these days captain of Kolkata Night Riders in the IPL, are two well-known names preparing for a contest that should attract a large Sunday crowd. The Pakistanis, making their first appearance on their summer tour of England, will be led by Shahid Afridi, returning to the Home of Cricket for the first time since his match-winning performance at the ICC World Twenty20 Final in 2009.

The MCC fixture at Lord’s will be the only Twenty20 match played by the Pakistanis in London this season. Also confirmed to play are Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lanka opening bowler, Ian Harvey, the Australian limited-overs specialist, Aiden Blizzard, the hard-hitting Victorian batsman, and Glenn Querl, a current MCC Young Cricketer who is impressing for the Unicorns in domestic cricket.

Tickets for the MCC v Pakistanis game are on sale now, priced £20 for adults and £5 for Under 16s. They can be bought from www.lords.org/tickets or by calling the MCC Ticket Office on 020 7432 1000.

OXFAM stands to gain thousands of pounds from the proceeds of the first four editions of Wisden almanacks on offer at Bonhams book sale in Oxford on June 29.

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The books have been put up for sale with the auctioneers on behalf of the charity, and the first edition alone, published in 1864 by the cricketer John Wisden, could raise about £4,000. The three subsequent annual editions have usually attracted lesser bids, but all four carry the title The Cricketer’s Almanack before the name was changed in 1869 to Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack , still familiar to this day.

Wisden has been published without interruption since 1864, even during the two world wars. This makes it the world’s longest running sports reference book as well as the most famous. "In all that time," Bonhams say, "it has only had 18 editors and has carried articles by all the great names in cricket writing." Including Charlie Randall.

In contrast to recent editions, with their 1,500 or so pages, the first edition had only 112 pages and contained non-cricketing information such as the winners of the Oaks and the dates of the battles of the English Civil War. The Bonhams book specialist at Oxford, David Walker, said: "It’s a thrill to be able to offer such wonderful, historic books especially in such a good cause."

Full sets of the almanack attract big money. An unbroken set from the first year 1864 to 1984 was auctioned at Bonhams in London in November 2009 for £90,000, well above the expected price. Though this was not a full set up to the year of sale, the books were handsomely bound and offered in fine condition as the top lot.

A proper full set was sold at auction by Graham Budd at Sotheby's for £120,000 in 2006. The following year a price of £144,000 was apparently achieved at auction, the highest on record. Certainly early gaps can be expensive to fill. For example the year 1896 is notoriously rare, once fetching £24,160 in 2007 as an original hardback with surface wear.