Aussie fans urged to applaud end of Warne's record

Sri Lanka are scheduled to play two Tests against Australia in November in Brisbane and Hobart, where 35-year-old Muralitharan will require just eight scalps to equal Hampshire skipper Warne's record of 708 Test wickets.

Symonds, a former team-mate of Muralitharan at Lancashire, feels it would be embarrassing if Australia supporters failed to applaud the efforts of the Sri Lankan spin-bowler were he to emulate, or better, Warne's record.

"We respect him for his skills and for what he has done and I think it would be rude, straight out rude, if they didn't sort of respect him and give him the pat on the back he deserves," Symonds said.

"I just hope the beer-drinkers in the sun don't give him a hard time, and late one afternoon if he breaks the record they start on him."

Fresh from leading Sri Lanka to a 3-0 whitewash of Bangladesh, Muralitharan said that he is not thinking about the record and that the conditions in Australia may not suit his off breaks.

"The record will come sometime in the near future, but I am not sure it will happen in Australia because the wickets there usually help fast bowlers," Muralitharan said after taking his 700th Test wicket last week.

"I don't know how much I will get to bowl in Australia because our fast bowlers could grab most of the wickets."

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said that Australia fans have been fortunate to witness two of the best bowlers of all time in consecutive years.

Warne dismissed England's Andrew Strauss to claim his 700th Test wicket in Melbourne last year.

Surtherland said: "We would prefer an Australian to hold the record for the most number of wickets but the reality is that records are there to be broken.

"I think it's a great opportunity to celebrate the privilege that we have had over the last decade or so to watch two of the greatest bowlers of all time do their stuff."