England need to prove themselves in subcontinent for No 1 spot: Murali

'I think they are good in England,but on the sub-continent they are not that good.'

Former Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has said that England needs to prove themselves in India and Sri Lanka to earn the right to be called the best Test-playing nation on the planet.

Muralitharans comment comes ahead of the England-Sri Lanka Test series,which starts in Cardiff today.

I think they are good in England,but on the sub-continent they are not that good. They had a brilliant win in the Ashes,but other than that they havent done many great things in the sub-continent, Muralitharan told BBC Radio 5 Live.

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They have to improve on the sub-continent,beating sides from the sub-continent in the sub-continent. They have to beat Sri Lanka and India in their conditions, he added.

Muralitharan further acknowledged that off-spinner Graeme Swann is world class,but feels that captain Andrew Strauss needs another one to conquer the Indian subcontinent.

In the sub-continent you need two good spinners. At the moment they have a lovely spinner in Graeme Swann,but they need one more spinner to be fighting in the sub-continent because its difficult with one, Muralitharan said.

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