England's innate fear of quality spinners was eased by their performances in Pakistan. And now chairman of selectors David Graveney believes the side can build on their new-found confidence when they tackle Muttiah Muralitharan and his colleagues in Sri Lanka.

Muttiah Muralitharan Photo CricInfo

The squad fly out on Tuesday for a three-Test tour in the knowledge that they learned to deal with the threat of Saqlain Mushtaq on their victorious tour of Pakistan before Christmas.

Now they must counter the threat of the prolific Muralitharan who will be seeking to add to his 303 Test wickets. But Graveney remains upbeat: "We can go there with confidence at the way we stayed in the series in Pakistan and won it when the opportunity presented itself and we can also draw confidence at the way we handled the spin on that tour.

"We will be going there without the fear the players might have had deep down before we went to Pakistan. Everyone was writing us off and saying that as soon as spin was introduced it would be the end of the game and we've proved people wrong.

"Pakistan has been very good preparation for our trip to Sri Lanka because it got us into the mode of how to play Test cricket in the sub-continent."

Sri Lanka, though, are expected to provide a sterner test than Pakistan, having lost only four Tests in five years at home.

"When we played Pakistan we were helped [by the fact] that they were a bit twitchy at home because they had lost a few recent series, but we don't have that with Sri Lanka," conceded Graveney. "They are in a little bit of a transition because Arjuna Ranatunga isn't playing any more, but they will still be a handful.

"Muralitharan is the number one spin bowler in the world for me and while Saqlain's spells were always broken up when we were in Pakistan, this guy just wheels away indefinitely from one end."

As well as countering the wiles of Muralitharan, England will have to deal with the intense humidity. But the tourists are hoping that they might be able to turn this to their advantage by making the ball swing.

Graveney said: "The wickets won't help our seamers, but they didn't in Pakistan either and they [the seamers] were still able to make important contributions.

"The ball swings in Sri Lanka and hopefully we can make the most of that. The humidity will help it swing - and it will also show what a good medical staff we've got.

"The players will have to retain liquids as much as they can and the slightest pull can turn serious out there because the weather just saps any liquid out of your body.

"I played there in 1982 with Gloucestershire and I've never encountered hotter conditions, but encountering different climates is all part of the learning process."

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