Murali after wickets, not records

Muttiah Muralitharan will return to Test cricket on Wednesday with the chance to become the highest wicket-taker in the world - for the second time this year. But Murali, who will not be bowling his doosra, insists he will be chasing wickets rather than records.

Muralitharan's decision to boycott Sri Lanka's two-Test tour of Australia in July allowed Shane Warne to draw level with him on 527 wickets. But during the forthcoming series against South Africa, on what are expected to be two spin-friendly pitches, Muralitharan has the opportunity to open up the gap again, while Warne is playing county cricket with Hampshire.

Muralitharan, however, claims to be completely disinterested now by the world record and the resultant media hype over his rivalry with Warne. Instead, he insists, his No. 1 priority now is taking wickets to help Sri Lanka win matches.

"I am not thinking about the record any more," Muralitharan told reporters after the Sri Lanka team practice this morning. "The main achievement was passing Courtney Walsh's 519-wicket record, and now I want to concentrate on winning this match. As we [Murali and Warne] are both going to be playing for a long time, there is no interest at all in us passing each other every other match."

Galle, where the first Test is to be played, has been a happy hunting ground for Muralitharan over the years. When these sides last met here, in 2000, he ripped through South Africa's batting in both innings to claim 13 for 171. In all, he has snapped up 80 wickets at 15.10 in only ten Tests at Galle.

South Africa, like all teams that tour Sri Lanka, has been feverishly working on their laptops trying to unravel some of Murali's mystery. "We have done our homework and watched a lot of video tapes," Graeme Smith told reporters. "We have spoken to some guys who have done well against him over the years. Our record against him is pretty decent, but playing Murali here and facing him in South Africa are two completely different things."

Their job has been made considerably easier by Murali's decision, after advice from the Sri Lanka board which was also endorsed by the ICC, to shelve the doosra at least until November. South Africa may seek confirmation from Clive Lloyd, the match referee, that they will not be confronted by the mystery ball. "We have been told that he won't be bowling his doosra," said Eric Simons, the coach. "We have a match-referee meeting tonight, and I suppose it might come up in that. As far as we are concerned, the doosra has been removed from his repertoire."