Warne doubts he?ll break Murali's record in Cairns

Shane Warne on Thursday said he doubts he will grab the eight scalps he needs to overhaul Muttiah Muralitharan's wicket-taking world record in the Australia-Sri Lanka Test starting on Friday.

Shane Warne on Thursday said he doubts he will grab the eight scalps he needs to overhaul Muttiah Muralitharan's wicket-taking world record in the Australia-Sri Lanka Test starting on Friday. Warne started the two-Test series needing 11 wickets to overtake Muralitharan, who has 527 wickets and who missed this tour citing personal reasons.

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He took three in the first innings of the first Test in Darwin, but went wicketless in the second innings as pace man Michael Kasprowicz tore through the tourists' lineup for a seven-wicket haul. "I probably needed to get a couple wickets in that second innings, and it was disappointing not to get those," he said. "It's probably doubtful I'm going to take eight wickets given the history of this wicket - it generally suits the quicks more than the spinners, but having said that Magilla got 10 against Bangladesh last year," he added, Stuart MacGill's performance last year in Cairns.

Warne has taken eight or more wickets 24 times in his 111 Tests, but the track in Cairns is likely to favour pace bowlers.

"I spoke to MacGill about the wicket and he said there was a bit of bounce and spin and it's encouraging that he got 10, but I don't think our quicks bowled well here last year, and they'll be trying to rectify that so I think the Lankans might cop it," he said.