July 13, 2004 – When Shane Warne equaled Muttiah Muralitharan's tally of Test wickets

Sri Lanka toured North Australia in July 2004 for being part of a 2-match Test series against the Australian team. This series was played outside the normal Australia season and the venues were named as Darwin and Cairns. Both the venues stood host for only one series till that point: Australia-Bangladesh in 2003. The Australians, as expected, took the field as favourites which were confirmed after the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan decided to step out of the series.

The Sri Lankan off-spinner pulled out of the tour after the then Australian prime minister John Howard pointed out Murali as ‘a chucker’ at a function. One guy who would be glad about this development was Australian spinner, Shane Warne. This series was the best chance for the leg-spinner to become the leading wicket-taker in the longer format. Only in May 2004, Murali became the highest wicket-taker in Tests by surpassing Courtney Walsh’s tally of 519.

At the start of the series, Muttiah Muralitharan had 527 wickets to his name while Shane Warne was on 517 wickets. It didn’t take long for Warne to go past Walsh as he picked up last three wickets of Sri Lanka’s first innings in the first Test. The Lankans were bowled out for 97 in reply to Australia’s 207. The Aussies made only 201 in the second essay but managed to bundle out the visitors to 162 despite Warne going wicketless in the 19 overs he bowled.

So close, yet too far!

Despite Australia and Sri Lanka posted big totals of 517 and 455 respectively in the first innings, Warne managed to sneak in three wickets leaving another five wickets to go past Muttiah Muralitharan. The home team made quick runs in the second essay to set a target of 355 to Sri Lanka on the final day. Warne was introduced as first change just before Lunch.

The leg-spinner was set to bowl unchanged through the day as the pitch was providing some turn. In his 3rd over and the first after Lunch, Shane Warne found the breakthrough as Sanath Jayasuriya was caught behind. Warne continued to bowl from the City End without any success. However, the Aussies managed to reduce the Lankans to 109/5. Almost after 17 overs without success, Warne managed to deceive Romesh Kaluwitharana to extend his tally of Test wickets to 525.

Kumar Sangakkara turned out to be a headache for the leg-spinner as the keeper-batsman was on course of saving the match. In his 30th over on trot, Warne managed to have Sangakkara’s wicket who was cleaned up by a leg-break trying to knock a cover-drive. Shane Warne stood close to creating history in Darwin when he got Upul Chandana stumped with another 9.3 overs still to be played.

The wicket of Chandana was Warne’s 527th Test same the number Muralitharan had at that point. Shane Warne couldn’t add one more wicket to his tally despite having as many as eight close-in fielders by the last over. Warne finished the innings with bowling figures of 37-16-59-4; all of them in an unchanged spell. Sri Lanka ended on 181/8 and survived with a draw but lost the 2-match series by 0-1 margin.

The Murali-Warne battle:

The period between July 13th and August 5th in 2004 remains the longest when Muralitharan and Warne were levelled at the top. Murali later took a lead after claiming five wickets during the Galle Test against South Africa in August. Murali’s 533rd Test wicket came on July 13th in 2005 as he missed quite a few Tests in the 11-month period. This helped Warne to become the sole leading Test wicket-taker until his retirement in 2007. He went past Murali for the first time during the Indian tour in October 2004.

The leg-spinner earned a 51-wicket lead over the Sri Lankan and was close to becoming the first-ever player to pick up 600 wickets. On 3rd December 2007, almost 11 months after Warne’s retirement, Muralitharan returned to the top of the wicket-takers list in the Test history a day after equaling Warne’s tally of 708 wickets. Murali surpassed the leg-spinner by dismissing England’s Paul Collingwood during the home Test series.