I've been thinking along the same lines as Atherton all winter: I think Muralitheran is one of the few glorious sights left in world cricket... and with the way pitches are today I would have very few qualms about signing up to any campaign to remove the shackles from him... and no problem whatsoever with the shackles being removed from finger spinners.

With all that said.. this is treating the symptoms rather than the disease: remove the test status from any so-called "test" ground that negates the value of a decent quality finger spinner and you've cured the dsease with no need to resort to such radical acts.

Doesn't mean that all pitches have to be dry and dusty with uneven bounce from the start of the first session... merely that all traces of loam should be dug up and incinerated and then replaced with something that will ensure that as the Test progresses the pendulum swings somewhat.