Aussies aim to emulate Fleming

Australia have studied Stephen Fleming's technique in an attempt to counter the threat posed by the Sri Lankan spinners, especially Muttiah Muralitharan. The two teams play a five-match one-day series from February 20, and will then contest three Tests in March.

John Buchanan, Australia's coach, said the team would pool together scraps of information so that the batsmen could come to terms with Sri Lanka's spinners. He made it clear that though Muttiah Muralitharan was a danger, they would not ignore the other bowlers.

"As I understand it, they've got six or eight spinners in their squad so Muralitharan is not the only one," Buchanan said. Obviously [Muralitharan] is a key player for them, but I think we'd be silly if we just believed that if we negated Murali, we've got Sri Lanka beaten."

Muralitharan has picked up 22 Australian wickets in seven games, but 15 of those have come in the last three Tests at an average of 23.3. And there's good reason for Australia to handle him with caution at home - since January 2000, Muralitharan has snapped up 188 wickets in 25 home Tests at an average of less then 18.

However, Fleming scored 376 runs in four innings the last time New Zealand toured Sri Lanka, and handled the spinners with a degree of comfort. It's this tour that has Buchanan interested.

"It was probably [New Zealand], and Fleming in particular," Buchanan said. "We've got some information there that we'll share with everybody. But also I think probably the experience of the likes of Matthew Hayden playing spin in India will be of benefit."