This Australia tour is going to be a big challenge for me and our team and we realise we are going to have to produce something special to win but we are capable.

This is the best chance we have because you won't see in a few years’ time Sanath (Jayasuriya playing or Marvan (Atapattu) or me or so many others playing. And at this time Australia are also in a winning frame of mind, so it's not going to be easy. We will have to do something special in the middle to beat them.

For me personally I’m looking forward to testing myself. I had a bad tour in 1995 and I want to forget that because that was the start of all the negative issues.

There have been problems with supporters shouting things but I’m used to it now. Fortunately I haven’t really had any racial problems and I was pleased that Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds came out and appealed for their fans to show respect to our players during the matches.

I would like to thank them for saying that. Symonds is a very good friend of mine – he’s been a Lancashire and Kent player like me - and he would have also felt very bad with whatever happened to him in India.
 
Those things should not have happened. People should come and just enjoy the game. In Sri Lanka you wouldn't have had a problem like that, because people come and enjoy. Even if you lose they congratulate the other players and that's the way it should be.

But I try my best and that's all I can do. Mentally, I am very strong, stronger than most other people. I am a fighter. I have to keep trying because if you don't you're not going to achieve anything.

I just want to focus on playing in Australia and show what I can do. Hopefully this time, before I retire, I can do something.

As a team we want to play decent cricket and be competitive. People ask if we will be verbal like the Indians were recently, but we won’t be like that. We want to play our own game, try to challenge Australia and have a good game.

It was nice to be honoured by having my name linked with the trophy in Australia along with Shane Warne. I have enormous respect for Shane and I consider it a great honour to have a trophy named after both of us.

Australia also gave me one of my most memorable moments when I played at the MCG in the tsunami fund-raiser.

Regarding the (Test wicket) record, it will be nice if it happens but I have always enjoyed team success more. And besides, I have held that record before.