Muttiah Muralidharan

Nottingham: Muttiah Muralidharan insisted his eight-wicket haul in Sri Lanka’s series-levelling 134-run victory over England here at Trent Bridge was one of his greatest-ever performances.

In what could be his final Test in England, the Man-of-the-Series dismissed the hosts’ top seven batsmen in their second innings as Sri Lanka won with more than a day to spare on Monday.

The 34-year-old off-spinner said his spectacular showing was in the same bracket as his 16 for 220 in the victory against England at The Oval in 1998 ? the last time they won a Test outside the subcontinent, excluding away encounters against minnows Zimbabwe.

“It was one of the best after The Oval match,” Murali said. “It is not easy against England although the wicket helped,” he added after taking eight for 70 for a match-haul of 11 for 132.

Murali claimed he was not upset at England tailender Matthew Hoggard being run out by Chamara Kapugedera, which denied the spin wizard the chance to claim only the third 10-wicket innings haul in Test history.

“I was happy to see England all out. We wanted to win the match and level the series,” he said.

“I was celebrating all the wickets we took. I had already taken seven and I was happy at the time,” explained Murali whose second-innings wickets came in a burst of eight for 26 in 105 balls.

Stand-in England captain Andrew Flintoff admitted that Murali, whom he played alongside at Lancashire, had been the difference.

“We were undone by a special talent and you can’t take anything away from the way he bowled.”

Flintoff, himself nursing an ankle problem, said his injury-hit team, which has now gone three series without coming out on top after last year’s Ashes triumph, had missed their chances against Sri Lanka.

“We’ve got to hold our hands up,” he said afterwards. “We were in positions where we were very much involved in the match.”