SYDNEY, Dec 15: Two former Australian Test umpires have criticised Wisden for selecting Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan as the most valuable Test bowler in history.

Ross Emerson and Col Egar told Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph the judges had ignored question marks over Muralitharan’s action by choosing him ahead of New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee, England’s Syd Barnes and Australia’s Shane Warne.

Emerson and Egar both said they thought Muralitharan, whose unique action mixes finger spin with wrist rotation, was a chucker and his action had been getting worse since he was officially cleared for throwing.

The International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body, cleared Muralitharan after he was filmed with high-speed cameras. It was announced that he had a permanently bent arm, which gave the illusion of throwing.

But Emerson, one of three Australian umpires who called Muralitharan for chucking during the 1990s, said most top umpires around the world thought his action was illegal but were too scared to call him in fear of losing their jobs.

“Privately, all the top umpires say he throws but they’ve seen all the trouble that can happen if you call him, so they won’t,” Emerson said.

“Muralitharan’s action has changed since 1995 — it’s got worse — but he’s not worried about it because who’s going to call a bloke who has more than 400 Test wickets?”

Egar, a former Australian Cricket Board chairman, called Ian Meckiff for throwing in his first over of the 1963-64 season, effectively ending the left-arm quick’s career.

He described Muralitharan’s action as “disgusting” and said the game’s administrators should take a stand against him.

“Legislators are allowing this to go on and the issue around this bloke has become completely political,” Egar said.

“They need to change the law and let others throw as well, or fix this bloke’s action.

“Wisden has fallen for the trap of looking at this bloke’s record, not his action.”

Wisden released their rankings of the top 100 Test players in history on Friday.

Muralitharan was called for throwing on his past two tours to Australia and one of the umpires who called him in 1995-96, Darrell Hair, has been selected to umpire Tuesday’s one-day match between Sri Lanka and England in Brisbane.

Sri Lankan team officials have already announced Muralitharan will miss that match after recent surgery.—Reuters