otay said:
Did anyone think perhaps the only reason Flintoff said this in the first place was because England couldn't even beat Sri Lanka at home, whereas they beat Australia? As such, Flintoff feels like if he says this then there is some justification for them not beating Sri Lanka. It may sound cynical but it happens all the bloody time in sport.
This argument can go either way and no point even trying, and has been done a billion more times (just check out the BBC TMS message boards for this post). All i'll say is Warne's overall impact on the game (except for the rule changing part) is greater than Murali's.
Warne has only really had sucess against teams like: (test matches only)
In red is Murali's stats:
Pakistan - 90 wickets @ 20.17
79 wickets @ 23.31
England - 172 wickets @ 22.3
93 wickets @ 19.74
South Africa - 130 wickets @ 24.16
104 wickets @ 22.22
New Zealand - 103 wickets @ 24.37
52 wickets @ 23.69
Sri Lanka - 59 wickets @ 25.54
Australia - 55 wickets @ 31.41
West Indies - 65 wickets @ 29.95
70 wickets @ 17.34
India - 43 wickets @ 47.18
67 wickets @ 32.47
Career - 685 wickets @ 25.25
Career - 657 wickets @ 21.96
Interpretation:
England are terrible against spinner, whilst India is simply outstanding. Pakistan are also very poor, worse than South Africa at playing spin. (when i mention spin, i think we all agree that mutiah and shane are the two best spinners in the world, so spin = warne +mutiah).
Warne also started playing at international level a season earlier than murali. but i dont a season will make much difference in the international lineups of teams. they dont change that much.
Warne has played outstandily well against all major nations except for India. He absolutely wasted the England. In Odis warne isnt as good.. as murali. One argument used for Muralis outstand low average is that he plays more matches against the weaker minor nations (bangladesh, zimbabwe)- this is true he plays more against them than warne, but really makes little difference. Why? Because Warne has played more matches against England (who are the worst players of spin) than murali. Also Murali has to had to bowl to the best team for long span - Australia , this is reflected in the averages.
India are the best team at playing spin. and comparing warne and mutiah averages you can see there is clear gap. about an average of 15 runs. he aslo taken more wickets against the west indies at a ridiculous average and he hasnt played quite as many matches as warne. And finally Warne is a lot older than Murali.
I think it is quite clear that Murali > Warne.