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Warne touched by tsunami children
Friday, 11 February 2005 - 12:11 AM SL Time
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Many people in cricket-crazy Sri Lanka had a grudge against Australian cricketer Shane Warne but the leg-spinner's reputation in the Indian Ocean island is changing fast.
As he walked out on to the field at a sun-drenched cricket stadium in suburban Colombo to conduct a spinners' coaching camp with Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan on Thursday, the Australian was mobbed by hundreds of teenagers.
Over 200 children from schools hit by the tsunami on December 26 took part in the coaching camp conducted by the game's top two spinners.
`I hope you kids will learn something from him, he is one of the greatest bowlers I have seen, you will be lucky if you end up bowling like him,` Muralitharan told the children.
The two bowlers have vied for the world record for most test wickets over the past 12 months.
`I think the record chase between the both of us is good for the game,` Warne said.
`But kids, Murali is the best, he spins the ball 14 feet,` Warne added.
Warne, who made his test debut in Sri Lanka in 1992, currently holds the record with 566 wickets in 120 matches. Muralitharan is second on the list with 532 scalps from 91 games.
`I met Shane Warne and learned a few things from him, that is enough to cherish for a lifetime. He is just great,` said 16-year-old Chinthaka Perera, who could not stop smiling after shaking hands with the Australian.
Warne has a soft spot for the Indian Ocean island as he took his 500th test wicket at the Galle international cricket stadium in southern Sri Lanka, which was destroyed by the tsunami.
Warne wants to channel funds through his charity, The Shane Warne Foundation, which raises money for underprivileged children in Australia, into Sri Lanka's tsunami relief effort.
Money will be made available to Sri Lanka Cricket to rebuild the cricket ground in Galle.
`I just can't get over the spirit of these kids, even after what has happened they are smiling,` Warne said.
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