Mahela Jayawardene has defended Sri Lanka's decision not to gamble on Muttiah Muralitharan's fitness © AFP

Mahela Jayawardene believes Sri Lanka made the right decision not to play Muttiah Muralitharan in the five-ODI home series against England. Muralitharan has not played cricket since suffering a bicep injury playing for Lancashire this summer, and Jayawardene said keeping him fit for Test series against Australia and England later this year was more important.

"Murali wanted to play from the first game, but it would have been a big risk," Jayawardene told Sportinglife.com.. "The physios and the doctors were against him playing in the first three games, but we could have considered him for the [fourth] game. He bowled six or seven overs in the nets, but the intensity he bowls in the nets is quite different to what he would bowl in the middle and we didn't want to take that chance."

Sri Lanka had never lost an ODI series against England at home until now, but Jayawardene insisted it would have been a gamble playing Muralitharan in the contest. "If he bowls in a tough situation and bowls flat out he could aggravate his injury. [Then] he might be out for another six or seven weeks, and we didn't want to take that chance right now."

Jayawardene said having a fully-fit Muralitharan for Sri Lanka's two-Test tour of Australia next month and the return Test series against England was better for the team. "It has been the sensible decision to make. The important thing is that he needs to be ready for the longer version of the game as well - he needs to be bowling 25 or 30 overs a day in a Test match so he has to be 100 per cent."

The final match of the series takes place in Colombo on October 13.