SUNIL JAYASIRI 
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New Zealand chasing Murali's help
Sri Lanka's most successful international bowlers, Muttiah Muralidharan and Chaminda Vaas will assist new New Zealand bowling coach Shane Bond during the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, the stuff.co.nz reported.
Head coach Mike Hesson today announced Muralidharan would be involved before the management team departed Christchurch this morning, but Vaas' involvement was meant to remain under wraps.
But Bond himself let the cat out of the bag before apologising to Hesson.
Fairfax Media understands Vaas is still under contract in Sri Lanka, but has agreed to work with the Black Caps during the eight-match tour that includes one Twenty20 international, five one-dayers and two tests.
Hesson and co couldn't ask for better help; Muralidharan is the leading test wicket-taker of all time with 795 scalps while left-armer Vaas is easily the second most successful Sri Lankan bowler with 355 wickets.
Vaas will work with the entire bowling group, but will also spend time helping the three left-arm seamers in the Black Caps squad; Trent Boult, James Franklin and Neil Wagner.
Boult and Franklin are involved with both the limited overs squad that left today and the test squad while Wagner is only involved in the test squad.
With Hesson and assistant coach Bob Carter batting and fielding specialists and Bond more accustomed to quick bowling, the involvement of Muralidharan fills a big gap in the spin coaching ranks.
And with four spin options in each of the side's limited overs and tests squads, plus wickets expected to take plenty of turn, Muralidharan's expertise will be welcomed with open arms.
"Obviously Muralitharan lives in Sri Lanka in Colombo and he's someone we've got contacts with," Hesson said today at Christchurch airport on the eve of the team's departure.
"We haven't been able to firm things up but we're also looking into the possibility of another specialist coach [in Vaas]. We've got some guys lined up but they add to the mix and help Shane in terms of his development - and also the players.
"We play half of our cricket in the sub-continent and even now the West Indies' conditions are very sub-continental. We'll get exposed to a lot of spin, and in this series 70-80 per cent of our overs we face will be spin-based. How well we adapt and how well we play them will dictate the outcome."
New Zealand open their tour with their one Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka next Tuesday at Pallakele - the same ground where the Black Caps were eliminated from the Twenty20 World Cup earlier this month.
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