HARARE, May 5: Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan goes into Thursday's first Test against a second-string Zimbabwe side in Harare within sight of one of cricket's most celebrated records.

The spinner is just six wickets away from equalling former West Indian fast bowler Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets. The milestone, though, has been overshadowed by a bitter selection row between 15 Zimbabwean players and their board, leaving the home team severely depleted and under the command of Tatenda Taibu, who will become Test cricket's youngest captain at 20.

The rebels, who believe black players are being rushed into the side for political reasons at the expense of more experienced white players, have refused to make themselves available until the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) agrees to binding arbitration to deal with the affair.

Four of them - pace bowler Heath Streak, spinner Ray Price, all rounder Sean Ervine and batsman Trevor Gripper - were named in the Test squad but withdrew, leaving Zimbabwe to field an enthusiastic, inexperienced team which was whitewashed 5-0 by Sri Lanka in the one-dayers.

"It's a very young side without 'Streaky' and all those guys," Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh said on Wednesday. "They've just got to believe in themselves. "If every player in Zimbabwe was available, then a lot of these guys wouldn't be playing Test cricket.

"But they've been chosen, and we've just got to go out there and play the best we possibly can." Marsh said the one-day matches offered little indication of how the Test series might unfold.

"Zimbabwe got better as the series went on, but Sri Lanka also didn't play their full-strength side in some of the games. "But they'll come out blazing in this Test match. They will play it as hard as they possibly can, because Test cricket is special. It's going to be tough for our guys, but they will just have to react.

"We've lost all our batters," he added. "Stuart Carlisle has scored the most Test runs for us this year, Grant Flower is our most senior player, Craig Wishart is the best player in the country, Sean Ervine is the most promising cricketer in the country, we've lost 'Streaky's batting and Ray Price has been our best bowler behind 'Streaky' in the last 12 months."

Teams (from):