All-rounder Andrew Symonds has urged Australian crowds to applaud Muttiah Muralitharan if the controversial off-spinner breaks Shane Warne's Test wickets record when Sri Lanka tour Down Under in November.
The 35-year-old Sri Lankan became the second player in history to reach 700 victims in the final Test against Bangladesh in Kandy earlier this month, and lies eight scalps behind leg-spinner Warne's record haul.
Symonds, a former team mate of Muralitharan at English county Lancashire, said he hoped Australian crowds would respect his achievements despite him twice being called for throwing on tours there in the 1990s.
"I just hope the beer drinkers in the sun don't give him a hard time and late one afternoon if he breaks the record they start on him," Symonds told Australian Associated Press.
"I hope that doesn't happen, I hope people can stand up and actually applaud him for what he is, a legend of a game."
Sri Lanka play a two-Test series against Australia starting in Brisbane on Nov 8, but Muralitharan has only played three Tests on Australian soil largely due to the throwing controversies.
The 35-year-old Sri Lankan became the second player in history to reach 700 victims in the final Test against Bangladesh in Kandy earlier this month, and lies eight scalps behind leg-spinner Warne's record haul.
Symonds, a former team mate of Muralitharan at English county Lancashire, said he hoped Australian crowds would respect his achievements despite him twice being called for throwing on tours there in the 1990s.
"I just hope the beer drinkers in the sun don't give him a hard time and late one afternoon if he breaks the record they start on him," Symonds told Australian Associated Press.
"I hope that doesn't happen, I hope people can stand up and actually applaud him for what he is, a legend of a game."
Sri Lanka play a two-Test series against Australia starting in Brisbane on Nov 8, but Muralitharan has only played three Tests on Australian soil largely due to the throwing controversies.
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