LANCASHIRE captain John Crawley warned against complacency today when they came up against the part-timers of the Warwicks county board teams in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Blackpool.

"We have to be thoroughly professional," he said in naming a full-strength side, apart from Mike Atherton who links up on Monday with the England squad.

And Muttiah Muralitharan will need no reminding that when he made his debut in this competition, then called the NatWest Trophy, in 1999, he found that reputation counted for little.

Lancashire's first tie that year was against Hertfordshire on the picturesque club ground of Radlett and the Sri Lankan spinner, who was terrorising county batsmen, was hammered for 43 runs off his eight overs.

Murali had less success in the next round against Hampshire, his 10 overs costing 48 and, after the quarter-final defeat by Yorkshire, he finished with the astonishing overall analysis of 28-2-148-1. This time is likely to be different.

It was at Blackpool that he destroyed Glamorgan in a championship match during his sensational debut season and, after taking 10 Essex wickets at Old Trafford last week, he is moving into top gear.

Crawley said: "He is working harder and harder for us.

"There is only two weeks or so before he has to go back to Sri Lanka and he wants to make the best of what's left."

Meanwhile, as England look forward to the Ashes, Western Australian batsman Damien Martyn claimed he was hungrier than ever -- but immediately played down his chances of a place in the Australia Test team at Edgbaston.

Martyn struck a solid 80 as the tourists built a gigantic lead of 560 over the MCC at Arundel -- the second consecutive day a squad player had made their mark following Simon Katich's unbeaten 168.

Martyn, 29, first toured with the Australians of 1993 but reckons there is a drastic difference in him now compared to back then.

"I am older, maturer and hungrier," he said. "Ashes tours don't come along that often.

"I missed out in 1997 and I am just really hungry to be here and to try to make some runs."

Steve Waugh's decision not to enforce the follow-on was to provide enhanced time in the middle for Michael Slater and Justin Langer, in their first outings of the tour, and Matthew Hayden, who looks increasingly out of sorts.

But the trio fell for a combined 33, leaving centurion Waugh and Martyn to provide the bulk of the tourists' total as the Aussies left the MCC to survive the final day to save the match. Martyn is adamant he and fellow Western Australian Katich remain the back-up men despite the trio just having one more match - against Essex at Chelmsford later this week - before next Thursday.

"I think you will see people improving in the run-up to the game. They will make runs," he said.

"There will be disappointments but you will see them bounce back in Essex.

"The one-day guys have been lucky because we have played quite a bit of cricket and got used to the conditions.

"In these situations you just have to look to bat as long as you can and use it as practice - it's better than the nets - so you just try and stay out there.

"I will have to just keep making runs but we have a very good Test side at the moment, I am the fringe player and myself and Simon just have to wait for our opportunity.

"There is never no chance - anything can happen - but all you can do is keep doing what you are doing. We will wait and see what happens.

"We are a unit, we keep each other on our toes and our main goal is to come here and keep the Ashes."

Colin Miller, another Aussie making his first appearance of the summer, finished off the MCC - for whom New Zealander Mark Richardson carried his bat for 64 - a little over an hour into the second day for figures of four for 41.