JOHANNESBURG: Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan announced he was eager to continue playing Twenty20 and country cricket for another two or three years just days after ending his Test career with a record haul.   The Sri Lankan retired from five-day internationals last month after becoming the first player to claim 800 Test victims with his last ever delivery in the longest form of the game.   Less than three weeks later, he has turned his sights on helping Sri Lanka win their second one-day World Cup when they co-host the event with India and Bangladesh next year.   “I've told the Sri Lankan selectors that if they really want me for the World Cup then I will play. Otherwise I will play Twenty20 for another two or three years and some county cricket,” Muralitharan said on Tuesday.   Muralitharan said his decision to retire from Test cricket had not been due to any physical problems but rather a desire to leave whilst still at the top of his game.

JOHANNESBURG: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara might find the ICC rankings system flawed but the country's retired spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan feels it is alright and India are a deserving number one in the Test Championships table.   Sangakkara last month questioned the system and said it was not fair as the ICC had not devised a proper home-and-away format in its Future Tour Programme.   Muralitharan, however said it was not necessary for a team to beat all other sides on tours before becoming number one. “India deserve to be the number one Test side because they won a lot of matches. They won against Australia in Australia, they won against England in England and they drew the recent series in Sri Lanka 1-1,” he said on the eve of the launch of Champions League Twenty20 here.

COLOMBO : After keeping mum for long, spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan today slammed his vocal critic Bishen Singh Bedi, calling the former Indian skipper an ''ordinary spinner''.   Murali, who bid adieu to the longer version of cricket after snaring 800 scalps, gave vent to his ire and asked Bedi to ''look at himself in the mirror''.   ''What he has done can be achieved by any ordinary bowler in today's cricket,'' he told CNN IBN.   ''The few hundred wickets he has taken is not a major feat, there are 30-40 bowlers today who have done that with ease.   He is making these comments on me because he wants to be popular,'' Murali said, adding that ''Bedi has never done anything for cricket''.   Bedi has been spewing fire against Muralitharan by repeatedly calling the Sri Lankan a ''chucker'' and asking the ICC to ban the Sri Lankan's ''doosra'' as it was illegal.

COLOMBO : After keeping mum for long, spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan today slammed his vocal critic Bishen Singh Bedi, calling the former Indian skipper an ''ordinary spinner''.   Murali, who bid adieu to the longer version of cricket after snaring 800 scalps, gave vent to his ire and asked Bedi to ''look at himself in the mirror''.   ''What he has done can be achieved by any ordinary bowler in today's cricket,'' he told CNN IBN.   ''The few hundred wickets he has taken is not a major feat, there are 30-40 bowlers today who have done that with ease.   He is making these comments on me because he wants to be popular,'' Murali said, adding that ''Bedi has never done anything for cricket''.   Bedi has been spewing fire against Muralitharan by repeatedly calling the Sri Lankan a ''chucker'' and asking the ICC to ban the Sri Lankan's ''doosra'' as it was illegal.

COLOMBO : After keeping mum for long, spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan today slammed his vocal critic Bishen Singh Bedi, calling the former Indian skipper an ''ordinary spinner''.   Murali, who bid adieu to the longer version of cricket after snaring 800 scalps, gave vent to his ire and asked Bedi to ''look at himself in the mirror''.   ''What he has done can be achieved by any ordinary bowler in today's cricket,'' he told CNN IBN.   ''The few hundred wickets he has taken is not a major feat, there are 30-40 bowlers today who have done that with ease.   He is making these comments on me because he wants to be popular,'' Murali said, adding that ''Bedi has never done anything for cricket''.   Bedi has been spewing fire against Muralitharan by repeatedly calling the Sri Lankan a ''chucker'' and asking the ICC to ban the Sri Lankan's ''doosra'' as it was illegal.