Muralitharan tests completed

Muttiah Muralitharan has completed five of the most important overs of his life, strapped with reflective markers and watched by 12 high-speed cameras. The fate of Muralitharan's controversial doosra now rests upon the conclusions of a computer.

Muralitharan wasted no time in undertaking the tests, for the second time in his career, at the University of Western Australia in Perth, after his doosra was labelled suspect by Chris Broad, the ICC match referee for last week's third Test against Australia in Colombo. The analysis was carried out on Wednesday night, and the results are expected shortly.

Professor Bruce Elliott, an ICC-approved human-movement specialist employed to undertake the tests, was confident that the assessments would produce a clear conclusion: "We put reflective markers on Murali, which are captured by the cameras and computers. The computer then does the calculation and gives us the answer."

Elliott said that Muralitharan fervently believed his doosra was legitimate. "His comment is that he uses far more wrist in his top-spin delivery to create his doosra. We will see if there is any truth in that. He has such rotational ability with his wrist, his strange elbow and in his shoulder that is quite possible that it is an optical illusion."

Bruce Yardley, the former Australian offspinner who has also coached Sri Lanka, watched every ball of the tests to ensure that Muralitharan used the same energy and action that had brought him 513 Test victims. Yardley was satisfied that Murali's bowling was the same as when he bowled competitively.

The footage will now be analysed by Elliott and Daryl Foster, the former Western Australia coach and bowling advisor to the Sri Lankan team. The report will then be handed over to the Sri Lankan cricket board, which will file a report to the ICC within six weeks. The results - especially if they clear Muralitharan - are likely to be made public long before that deadline.