Sri Lankan skipper puts faith in Muralitharan

``He has played in front of all the top umpires in the world, so it is not a big problem for us,'' he said when after world one-day champions flew in for the tournament which starts January 10.

``We are not concerned about that. We are more concerned about what we are going to do on this tour to perform,'' Ranatunga added.

``That's the most important thing to us. We are here to play good cricket and win the tournament.''

Muralitharan was at the centre of a bitter controversy when he last toured Australia three seasons ago.

The 26-year-old was called for throwing by Australian umpires Darrell Hair and Ross Emerson, who were not satisfied his bent elbow action was legal.

Hair, in a recent book, 'Decision Maker', described Muralitharan's action as ``diabolical'', saying he would call him again if he considered his action had not improved.

But Hair has withdrawn from Sri Lanka's matches in this season's one-day series, saying his decision was in the interests of harmony.

Muralitharan had been in doubt for this tour because of injury problems, but was declared fit late last week.

Muralitharan refused to comment on Hair, merely saying he was looking forward to a good contest.

The Sri Lankans will practice in the nets at the WACA Ground here before meeting an Australia A side in a day-night clash in Perth on Sunday - the first of three warm-up matches against a strong team of young players mostly just outside the senior national side.

Sri Lanka squad

Arjuna Ranatunga (capt), Aravinda de Silva (vice-capt), Marvan Atapattu, Upul Chandana, Aviska Gunawardena, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Roshan Mahanama, Muttiah Muralitharan, Suresh Perera, Tilan Samaraweera, Hashan Tillakaratne, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Nuwan Zoysa.