Sri Lanka's legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said although he is about to break his own record of 80 Test wickets in a calendar year, which he equalled during the first Test defeat to New Zealand, his most successful year remains 2001, when his team recorded series wins over India and the West Indies.
The spinner, who took seven wickets in the five-wicket defeat at Christchurch, has a chance to add to his tally and set a personal high when the second and final Test begins in Wellington on Friday.
"I didn't actually know I had reached this milestone until yesterday when a friend told me," Murali said on his official website www.bigstarcricket.com.
"It's been a good year and hopefully there are still a few more [wickets] to come with our final Test of 2006. I think 2001 is still my best because we won more, having played a couple more Tests [8 out of 12]. That year we beat India and West Indies at home. It's not like we have had a bad year this time [winning five of 10] but we haven't played as many matches, which I suppose makes my achievement now better from a stats point of view.
"I know I'm not getting any younger [at 34] but I still feel as though I'm improving because I am more experienced and that's a very important asset in Test cricket. You cannot teach experience. My best memory this year, so far, was our victory against England at Trent Bridge where we squared the series and I managed to pick up eight wickets in the second innings. Those are the times when you can enjoy your own success more, when the team has won," the off-spinner added.
Murali also spoke about his controversial run out in the first match at Christchurch when Kumar Sangakkara reached his hundred, endorsing his skipper's opinion that New Zealand were unsporting in executing the run out.
"Although it was my fault, because the ball was still live, it was disappointing because we play in an era when people talk about the spirit of the game so that was not on," Murali said.
