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BRISBANE, Sunday (AFP) - Sri Lankan cricket team management said on Sunday that a long-running Australian campaign to discredit off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was not justified.

The team closed ranks here on Sunday after a former Australian umpire was reported in Sunday papers as saying Muralitharan's bowling action was illegal.

Team manager Ajith Jayasekara refused media requests to talk to Muralitharan and slammed the Sunday Telegraph newspaper report claiming it was part of a long-running campaign.

"It's not justified. I think it's a campaign to discredit him," he said on Sunday. "Whenever we come here there's a campaign against him. Anyone will get affected when they find screaming headlines."

Retired Australian umpire Ross Emerson said most of his former colleagues believed Muralitharan's action was illegal but didn't call it because they feared losing their jobs.

He was quoted as saying: "Muralitharan's action has changed since 1995 -- it's got worse -- but he's not worried about it because who's going to call a bloke who has more than 400 (Test) wickets?".

Emerson called Muralitharan in January 1999, when Sri Lanka played England at Adelaide Oval. He joined other Australians, Darrell Hair, Barry Jarman and Tony McQuillan who called Muralitharan for chucking during the 1990s.

But the International Cricket Council, the sport's governing body, cleared Muralitharan after he was filmed with high-speed cameras. It was announced that he had a permanently bent arm, which gave the illusion of throwing.

Muralitharan on Friday was named by cricketing bible Wisden as the best ever Test bowler, ahead of New Zealand's Richard Hadlee, England's Syd Barnes and Australia's Shane Warne.

Jayasekara believed the latest controversy could have stemmed from that honour and he was surprised by the intensity of the so-called campaign. But he said it started well before the team's arrival.

"It didn't start from today. It started building up to this tour," Jayasekara said. He said Muralitharan, who had a recent hernia operation, will be told by a doctor over the next couple of days when he can start training.

Team management hope he will be playing within a couple of weeks.

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