Rex Clementine reporting from Kandy

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan reached yet another milestone when he completed 100 Test wickets at the Asgiriya International Stadium in Kandy, the hometown of the champion bowler. Muralitharan has already taken 100 wickets each at the Singhalese Sports Club ground and Galle International

Cricket Stadium and he completed the feat at his home ground too on Thursday when he ended with six for 28.

"It's good to get there, especially in a long career. I have already taken 100 wickets at Galle and SSC. This is the third venue where I have taken a century of wickets. I consider it a tremendous achievement as it's not easy. Not many people have done that," the off-spinner told reporters at the end of the day's play.

The 35-year-old hardly speaks out on contentious issues, but yesterday he spoke his mind out on two counts, first on the need to improve facilities at the Asgiriya Stadium and then defending former coach Dav Whatmore, whose chances of taking over as Pakistan cricket coach don't look good after criticism from Pakistan's senior players.

"We play the big matches here in Kandy and they have to improve this ground for Test cricket. It's not good enough at the moment. Everyone will complain about the facilities, especially if we are going to play against a team like England. The ground is perfectly alright, but other facilities are not up to standard," Muralitharan said.

"I think Dav is a very good coach. He performed a great service for Sri Lanka cricket for 6-7 years. In that period we reached the semi-final of a World Cup and won a World Cup and also won 10 Tests in a row. So, he has to be good. If he wasn't good, how did we achieve all that? We had a good run from 2001-2003 under Sanath Jayasuriya's captaincy. I don't doubt Dav's coaching ability. I think he is a great coach. If any other country wants to test him they can. He will give his 100 percent. Dav mentally looked after the players and his man management was perfect. He was not a bowling coach, but a batting coach and he helped the batsmen a lot," Muralitharan said backing Whatmore's coaching credentials.

Muralitharan needs 15 more wickets to overtake Australian Shane Warne as the world's highest wicket taker. Sri Lanka's next Test assignment is the two match series in Australia and Muralitharan said that wickets might not help spin bowlers down under and wasn't all that sure whether he would be able to break the record.

"I have 15 more to get. I don't know whether we will get a chance to bowl in the second innings. It's never easy to get 15 wickets in 2 Test matches in Australia because Warne is not there and they'll prepare seamer friendly wickets. So, it may come against Australia or I'll have to wait for the England series at home."