COLOMBO, Dec 10: Muttiah Muralitharan wants another spinner in Sri Lanka’s Test team to help lessen his workload. The 35-year-old off-spinner, who last week overhauled Shane Warne’s 708 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket, has bowled more overs since left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya retired.

“It’s not easy to bowl 47 overs within five sessions, but I had to do it because we had only four bowlers,” Muralitharan said on Monday after the second day of the second Test against England.

“We missed Sanath, I wouldn’t have bowled so much if Sanath was playing. It will be easy if we had another spinner because we can share the job, that’s up to the selectors and the team management.”

Muralitharan took five wickets for 116 runs in 47 overs for his 62nd five-wicket haul as England were bowled out for 351 in their first innings on Monday at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground.

Jayasuriya retired last week after Sri Lanka won the first Test against England by 88 runs in Kandy.—AP