Thick-skinned Murali has bigger fish to fry

Controversial Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan says he will not be too concerned about anticipated heckling from the crowd during next month's two-Test series against Australia.Cricket Australia is expected to increase security at the Test matches in Brisbane and Hobart, with the first Test getting under way at the Gabba next Thursday.Muralitharan's often questioned bowling action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council but he says he still expects no-ball calls from some people in the crowd."I can't change anybody's opinion, they can say whatever they [want to] say," said Muralitharan, currently playing for Sri Lanka in a warm-up match against a Cricket Australia Chairman's XI in Adelaide.Muralitharan needs just nine more wickets to overtake Shane Warne's world record Test tally of 708, but he says the milestone is not in his focus.He says he is more concerned with beating Australia as this will be Sri Lanka's best chance to do it.Australia will be without retired trio Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer and Muralitharan says several veterans in his team are highly motivated to win an away series against Australia before they retire.

"Nine wickets is not in my mind because I want to try to win a match for Sri Lanka," hesaid."This is the best chance because you won't see in a few years time Sanath (Jayasuriya) playing or Marvan Attapattu or me, or so many others playing."Australia captain Ricky Pointing has appealed against racial taunting of the Sri Lankans following the treatment Andrew Symonds received during the recent one-day series in India.However he has questioned the level of security which surrounded Muralitharan when he arrived in Australia last week.Muralitharan was escorted through Adelaide airport by Australian Federal Police upon his arrival on Wednesday and Ponting says it was an overreaction."I must admit I couldn't understand that the other day," he said."I saw some armed guards getting with him when he arrived in Adelaide and that sort of thing - I don't think it's quite that bad."There'll be a few jibes from the crowd at different times but that's what you expect when you play. There's nothing different when we go anywhere around the world.".