Shane Warne is doubtful he can seize his best opportunity and deprive Muttiah Muralitharan of his world Test wickets record, but he's certain he has the upper hand on the Sri Lankan batsmen heading into this week's second cricket Test.

The master Australian legspinner came out of the 149-run victory in last week's Darwin Test with three wickets to advance to 520 Test wickets -- just seven behind Murali.

Warne is trying to take full advantage of Muralitharan's absence from the tour in Australia's tropical north and claim the record.

"I probably needed to get a couple of wickets in that second innings (in Darwin) but unfortunately I didn't do that and Kasper (Michael Kasprowicz) took seven wickets and bowled beautifully, that's the way it goes," Warne told reporters here on Tuesday.

"It was disappointing not to get a couple of wickets, I had an opportunity, but it's doubtful I'm going to take

eight wickets given the history of this (Cairns) wicket, it generally suits the quicks a lot more than the spinners."

But ever-confident Warne knows that he has the ammunition to trouble the Sri Lankan batsmen and spoke of his dominance over them heading into Friday's second and final Test in Cairns.

"As far as bowling to them, I've done pretty well against all their top batters, their middle-order and the tail. I think I've definitely got the wood on the Sri Lankans, I think we've seen that over the last few series.

"I've come out in one innings (in Darwin) and got none for 61, I don't think that had any impact, they were just trying to survive. I don't mind bowling to the Sri Lankans."

Warne took 26 wickets in three Tests in Sri Lanka in March and believed he has the Sri Lankan batsmen in his pocket despite his wicketless return in the second innings in Darwin.

"To beat them 3-0 in Sri Lanka and 1-0 in Darwin in under three days, I've got 29 wickets in four Tests against them, so that's not a bad effort, so all of us are playing well.

"We know Sri Lanka's strengths and weaknesses and if we bowl to our plans and can execute them, then we can rock and roll them again cheap, but if we don't they have some dangerous players who can slog you out the park too."

Warne, who turns 35 in September and believes he only has two or three years left in the game, is pragmatic about taking the world record off the younger Murali.

"Being realistic this is probably my last chance. I don't think anyone's going to get a chance once Murali gets back playing or if he decides to play against anyone else, unless he's going to get heckled or whatever, I'm not sure where he's going to play next," Warne said.

"When he plays he just takes that many wickets, he gets seven or eight wickets a game so if he plays for another four or five years he's going to take another 400-500 wickets, so he'll be somewhere around 1,000 wickets.

"I think this is my last chance and hopefully the boys can hang on to a few and I can bowl well enough to get the wickets."