The controversial spinner, 32, put Australian Prime Minister John Howard on the defensive after announcing Tuesday he would boycott next month's tour of Australia after the premier called him a "chucker."

Howard denied Wednesday his description of Muralitharan as a "chucker" led to the off-spinner's decision to snub the tour.

Asked in a radio interview Wednesday if his comments influenced Muralitharan's decision, Howard replied: "I don't believe so."

"I made it very clear at the time that he was very welcome to ... come," he said.

"He's very welcome to come and he claims that there are personal reasons why he doesn't want to come and I tend to believe that and that's the information I have," Howard said.

The Australian prime minister could be getting off lightly considering the army of lawyers backing Muralitharan had already threatened to take former Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi to court over similar allegations.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has no objection to Muralitharan's lawyers taking action against anyone making disparaging comments about him as long as the player himself is not distracted.

"He would be having a team of lawyers doing this work and we hope it will not distract Murali," SLC president Mohan de Silva said.

"We hope he remains focused on cricket."

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse assembled a team of top lawyers to defend Muralitharan after the International Cricket Council (ICC) had outlawed his 'doosra' delivery.

He then dropped plans to sue the ICC and began lobbying other Test-playing nations to help change the rules to end the controversy over Muralitharan's 'doosra'.

Sri Lanka last week formally asked the ICC to change the laws and increase tolerance limit for spinners to 15 degrees.

The tolerance limits set by the ICC are five degrees for spinners, 7.5 for medium-pacers and 10 for pacemen.

Muralitharan initially straightened his arm by 14 degrees while bowling the 'doosra' during tests in Australia in April, but brought it down to 10.2 degrees after going through a remediation process.

Rajapakse said Muralitharan, with a world record 527 wickets in 90 Tests, was a national asset and he would do everything within his power and that of the government to defend him.

Muralitharan, whose unorthodox action has seen him being no-balled for 'throwing' in the past, came under fresh scrutiny because of the 'doosra', a delivery which spins away from right-handers instead of coming into them a like normal off-break.

The spinner was told in April he could face a 12-month ban if he persisted with the 'doosra'.

SLC had argued that a deformity in elbow made Muralitharan's bowling action look suspect.

Former Sri Lankan cricket team physiotherapist Alex Kontouri had said that Muralitharan was a "bio-mechanical mess" who needed to be nursed carefully.

The spinner has already suffered a dislocated shoulder, a hernia operation, torn quadriceps and a niggling groin.

His bowling action has been questioned by Australian umpires and continues to trigger debate around the world as he sets his sights on the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga says Muralitharan has plenty of cricket left in him and is critical of SLC's handling of the controversy.

"We should not have sent him for tests in Australia. In that case, other bowlers should also be subjected to tests," said Ranatunga.

A lawyer has suggested the easiest way out for Muralitharan is for the bowler to wear a long-sleeved shirt so that the bowling angle cannot be seen.

The spinner who became a national hero after smashing retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's world record of 519 Test wickets in Zimbabwe last month is now losing his grip with the local media.

After shunning local photographers at the SLC offices here Tuesday, newspapers pitched into him saying he had "scant respect" for the media which had propped him up.