BIRMINGHAM,
England, May 30, 2006 (AFP) - Muttiah Muralitharan
has said he will be doubly determined for Sri Lanka to win the
upcoming third Test as the match, which starts at Nottingham’s
Trent Bridge ground on Friday, is set to be his final Test
appearance in England.Murali, who has played for English
counties Kent and Lancashire, will be nearing 40 by the time of
Sri Lanka’s next tour of England in 2011 and he made it clear
Tuesday he thought the Trent Bridge fixture would be his last
Test on English soil.
"I am very determined to win at Nottingham and go out in
England on a high," Murali said.
"I would love to draw the series now from the position we
find ourselves in. We have an important one-day series
afterwards but this is the big one for me," he also wrote in his
column on the Bigstarcricket.com website.
"Although we have a young team, we have seen both at Lord’s
and at Edgbaston that these youngsters are capable of putting in
some great performances," explained Murali of matches where his
side had batted gamely in the second innings.
"We just have to make sure that we all perform together as a
team rather than as individuals," Murali, who said his Edgbaston
return was a "wasted effort" because it was in a losing cause,
added.
"In both Tests we let ourselves down in the first innings and
then battled back in the second innings.
"It would be nice if we could give ourselves a chance to get
into the game this time instead of keep chasing it."
Muraltharan has taken 624 wickets in 105 Tests at an average
of 22.28, a tally that also includes 52 hauls of five or more
wickets in an innings. Only Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne,
with 685, has taken more Test wickets .
