Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan has told England their ranking as the International Cricket Council number one Test team is pretty insignificant.
And the bowling hero insists they must master subcontinental conditions before they can be compared to the best teams in cricketing history.
England are on the verge of losing their crown in the Test rankings as they crashed to a 3-0 series whitewash against Pakistan in Dubai, only a few months after taking on the mantle from India. England skipper Andrew Strauss must come up with a new strategy.
But Muralitharan claims he is not surprised by England’s struggles on the current tour as the subcontinent has long been their Achilles heel. He said: “I was not surprised because England always struggle coming to the subcontinent.
“On the subcontinent you have to learn to play spin very well and in that department they are lacking so you can see the results now. Pakistan are dominating with spin.”
The only solution, Muralitharan said, is to play more often in the region, and play longer tours with more warm-up matches. He added: “They are not used to the conditions. The conditions are always very important in cricket.
“They need to play here more often, and get used to the conditions better.”
England head to Sri Lanka next, and Muralitharan believes the Pakistan tour could stand them in good stead. He said: “They might play well in Sri Lanka because they have now played so many matches (in the United Arab Emirates) before coming here, but in the Pakistan series they did not have enough time to play matches.”
While much has been made at home of England’s No.1 status, Muralitharan questioned the value of the ICC rankings, saying the great teams in cricketing history were measured by an ability to dominate for long periods in any conditions.
He said: “England are No1, but they have more to do to become a No1 like Australia were for a period of time. They have to be the team to beat.
“A few months ago, the ICC ranking system said India was the No.1. Then England, and now it will pass to South Africa. It changes every few months, so that means nothing.”
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