October 09, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 26, 1428

COLOMBO, Oct 8: Sri Lanka are unlikely to risk their off-spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan for the final two fixtures of the One-day International series against England despite being 2-1 down after their two-wicket defeat at Dambulla on Sunday.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene is wary of rushing Muralitharan back into action with Sri Lanka heading off for a Test series in Australia next month.

Muralitharan hasn’t played an ODI since the World Cup and picked up a bicep injury playing for Lancashire against Kent in the County Championship in August, which ruled him out of World Twenty20.

Despite making progress, he is too valuable to Sri Lanka to be risked ahead of important Tests against Australia and then England in December.

“Murali has to be 100%,” said Jayawardene. “We’ll have to see whether we definitely need him because he’s very important to us in the five Test matches we’ve got ahead of us – once we get back to Colombo we’ll see how he is but we’re not going to rush him.”

Sri Lanka also have an injury concern with Farveez Maharoof who suffered a back spasm during Sunday’s match. He has been their leading bowler in the series with 10 wickets but faces a race to be fit for Wednesday’s one-dayer in Colombo.—Agencies