KANDY, July 12: Sri Lankan bowling great Muttiah Muralitharan came in support of former coach Dav Whatmore when he rated him ‘as a great coach’ and said that any country could hire him and test his capabilities.

Murali's views on the former coach was totally opposite to that of his former captain Arjuna Ranatunga who advised Pakistan to avoid hiring Whatmore as coach.

“I think Whatmore is a very good coach. He has done good service for Sri Lanka cricket for 6-7 years. In that period we reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, we won a World Cup and we also won 10 Tests in a row. So he has to be good. Otherwise how can we achieve all this?” said Murali.

“We had a run a great run from 2001-2003 in Sri Lanka cricket under Sanath Jayasuriya's captaincy. I don't doubt Whatmore's coaching ability. I think he is a great coach. If any other country wants to test him they can. He will give his 100 percent to them,” he stated.

“Mentally Whatmore looked after the players and his man-management was perfect. He was not a bowling coach but a batting coach and helped the batsmen a lot,” Murali further said.

He said Ranatunga was entitled to his own opinion about Whatmore. Ranatunga had reportedly told the Pakistan manager Talal Ali in Scotland to avoid hiring Whatmore as coach.

Whatmore was coach of Sri Lanka from 1995 to 1997 and again from 1999 to 2003.—Agencies