Editing Muttiah Muralitharan (section)

====Boxing Day Test 1995====
During the second Test between Sri Lanka and Australia at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] on Boxing Day 1995, Australian umpire [[Darrell Hair]] called Muralitharan for throwing in front of a crowd of 55,239. The [[Off spin|off-spinner]] was [[no-ball]]ed seven times in three overs by Hair, who believed the then 23-year-old was bending his arm and straightening it in the process of delivery; an illegal action in cricket.

Muralitharan had bowled two overs before lunch from umpire [[Steve Dunne (cricket umpire)|Steve Dunne]]'s or the Members' End of the ground with umpire Hair at square leg and these passed without incident. At {{Nowrap|2:34&nbsp;pm}} he took up the attack from umpire Hair's or the southern end. Muralitharan's third over was a [[Over (cricket)|maiden]] with all [[Bowling (cricket)|deliveries]] again passed as legitimate but in his fourth Hair no-balled him twice for throwing on the fourth and sixth balls. The umpire continued to call him three times in his fifth over on the second, fourth and sixth balls. While the bowler stood with his hands on his hips perplexed, the five calls provoked an immediate response by the Sri Lankan captain [[Arjuna Ranatunga]] who left the field at {{Nowrap|3:03&nbsp;pm}} to take advice from his team management. He returned at {{Nowrap|3:08&nbsp;pm}} and continued with Muralitharan who was called two more times in his sixth over on the second and sixth balls. At {{Nowrap|3:17&nbsp;pm}} Ranatunga removed the bowler from the attack, although he reintroduced him at {{Nowrap|3:30&nbsp;pm}} at umpire Dunne's end. Although Hair reports in his book, "Decision Maker", that at the end of the tea break he stated that he would call Muralitharan no matter which end he bowled he did not do so. Muralitharan completed another twelve overs without further no-balls and, after bowling Mark Waugh, finished the day with figures of 18–3–58–1.<ref name="THE CONTROVERSY'">{{cite web|url=http://www.muralitharan.org/murali/bernard.htm|title=The Controversy|publisher=muralitharan.org|first=Bernard|last=Whimpress|access-date=20 March 2008|archive-date=3 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703213924/http://www.muralitharan.org/murali/bernard.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After being no-balled Muralitharan bowled a further 32 overs from umpire Steve Dunne's end without protest from either Dunne or Hair, at square leg. The Sri Lankan camp was outraged after the incident, but the [[International Cricket Council|ICC]] defended Hair, outlining a list of steps they had taken in the past to determine, without result, the legitimacy of Muralitharan's action.<ref name="Muralitharan">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.mcg.org.au/default.asp?pg=historydisplay&articleid=196
 |title        = Muralitharan no-balled by Hair
 |work         = The People's Ground
 |access-date  = 20 March 2008
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071217053020/http://www.mcg.org.au/default.asp?pg=historydisplay&articleid=196
 |archive-date = 17 December 2007
 |url-status   = dead
 |df           = dmy
 }}</ref> By calling Muralitharan from the bowlers' end Hair overrode what is normally regarded as the authority of the square leg umpire in adjudicating on throwing. Dunne would have had to break convention to support his partner.

At the end of the match the Sri Lankans requested from the ICC permission to confer with Hair to find out exactly how to remedy the problem with their bowler. Despite the game's controlling body agreeing to it, the Australian Cricket Board vetoed it on the grounds that it might lead to umpires being quizzed by teams after every game and meant that the throwing controversy would continue into the [[World Series Cup]] during the coming week. The Sri Lankans were disappointed they did not get an explanation and decided they would continue playing their bowler in matches not umpired by Hair and wanted to know whether other umpires would support or reject Hair's judgement.<ref name="Muralitharan no-balled by Hair">{{cite web |url=http://www.mcg.org.au/default.asp?pg=historydisplay&articleid=196 |title=Muralitharan no-balled by Hair |work=The People's Ground |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217053020/http://www.mcg.org.au/default.asp?pg=historydisplay&articleid=196 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=17 December 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Muralitharan's action was cleared by the ICC after biomechanical analysis at the University of Western Australia and at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in 1996. They concluded that his action created the 'optical illusion of throwing'.<ref name="Profile ESPNcricinfo" />