Five from the past

Muttiah Muralitharan checked into the ‘pull-out’ club on Tuesday and thus joined an illustrious band of men. Murali’s reason...

Muttiah Muralitharan checked into the ‘pull-out’ club on Tuesday and thus joined an illustrious band of men. Murali’s reason for withdrawal from the Australia tour though adds a new dimension to the club. The Sri Lankan magician has to just check the history pages to find out more.

Morally speaking: The unstable political scenario and problems with team selection in Zimbabwe forced Stuart MacGill to opt out of the most recent (May 2004) Australia Test tour to Zimbabwe citing ‘moral grounds’. Cricket Australia (CA) had already made his path clear by announcing that no action would be taken. Finally though the Test tour itself

did not proceed owing to last-minute ICC intervention.

Chickening out: The 9/11 New York attacks struck fear in the hearts of Alec Stewart and Andrew Caddick. For Stewart his name in the CBI match-fixing probe too created a problem. Thus the retaliatory US action in Afghanistan came in handy as Caddick and Stewart pulled out of their 2001 winter tour to India. The duo though found themselves missing out on the New Zealand tour that followed too with the English selectors ignoring them.

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No order: English batsman Graham Thorpe spent a year and half getting over his troubles at home. His troubled marriage first forced him to pull out of the 2001 India tour just a day before the Ahmedabad Test. Then in the 2002 home season against India he played the first Test, but soon made himself unavailable for all England cricket. He wanted to set his house and mind in order.

Black Skies: On the eve of their tours to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Black Caps as a team have always faced desertion/ pull outs. Terror threats struck fear in the hearts of the Kiwis. In 1992-93 the LTTE blasts forced half the team including the likes of Mark Greatbatch and Dipak Patel to return home. Similarly tour to Pakistan in 2003 also saw a depleted New Zealand side being whitewashed by the hosts.

Just too bad: The three giants of 70s and 80s did not feature in the 1987 World Cup held in India and Pakistan. Fears of Delhi belly to poor pitches were some of the concerns cited by the trio. Strangely though the very next year, as he neared the then Test record of wickets held by Dennis Lillee, Richard Hadlee chose to tour India. He achieved his feat and went back happy.