Warne is confident of being fit for NZ series

Melbourne: Australian spin-king Shane Warne said Thursday he was more intent on beating New Zealand and Pakistan in upcoming Tests than putting some distance between himself and Muttiah Muralidharan.

Warne leapfrogged the Sri Lankan spinner during this month?s Indian tour as Test cricket?s greatest wicket-taker.

Warne has 541 wickets and Muralidharan, who is sidelined by a shoulder injury until early next year, has 532.

The five Tests against New Zealand (two) and Pakistan (three) presents 35-year-old Warne with the opportunity of widening the gap over Murali.

But Warne played down the quest to improve on the world record as a factor in the coming Tests. ?I enjoy playing against New Zealand and Pakistan... They?ve been two countries (against whom) I?ve had a lot of success with the ball, but also with the bat,? Warne said here Thursday.

?It (the record) is not a motivating thing, every time you play cricket, my job is to take as many wickets as I can.?

Warne has taken 75 New Zealand wickets at an average of five a match or 25.08 ? just under his career average of 25.59. Against Pakistan, he has 76 wickets from 12 matches at 18.60, including 27 scalps from the teams? last three-match series in 2002-03.

Warne said he was confident he would return from the broken thumb that forced him out of the fourth and final Mumbai Test against India. ?I will have a workout then and if there are any dramas... Which I don?t think there will be, I will play it by ear then,? Warne said at the launch of his ?King of Spin? DVD.

?But at this stage, I?m fully confident I will get through five days and I?m looking forward to playing New Zealand again.?

Warne surprised when he said as part of his DVD his favourite wicket was West Indies left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in the second innings of the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1996-97.

?I bowled a leg-spinner from around the wicket that spun probably the furthest I?ve ever spun the ball to take a wicket,? Warne said. ?He went back to cut and it bowled him.?

Warne rated that delivery ahead of what has been described as the ?ball of the century? ? the perfect leg-break that bowled England?s Mike Gatting around his legs early in the 1993 Ashes series in England.