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BIRMINGHAM, England, Monday (Reuters) - Nasser Hussain has warned England they will need to lift their performance again when confronting Sri Lankan trump card Muttiah Muralitharan on his "home pitch" in the third and final test at Old Trafford.

As England captain Hussain savoured victory by an innings and 111 runs in the second test at Edgbaston on Sunday, he was already looking ahead to the potential problems in the deciding match starting in Manchester on June 13.

Off-spinner Muralitharan has enjoyed great success bowling at Old Trafford during two seasons playing for Lancashire in 1999 and 2001. He captured a total of 35 wickets in his four county championship games at the ground.

Though England will be buoyed by the comprehensive win in Birmingham that gave them a 1-0 lead in the series, Hussain sounded a note of caution.

"Out of the three test venues for this series, Old Trafford will be the one Sri Lanka are looking forward to most, and Muralitharan in particular, so we will have to up our game and be at our best to beat them again," the England skipper said.

"There is going to be spin involved and reverse swing, but hopefully there will be a bit of pace in the wicket."

Muralitharan went into the Edgbaston test nursing a left shoulder injury that had prevented him from playing since early April, but he bowled 64 overs and took five for 143 in England's only innings.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore acknowledged Murali was not yet bowling at his peak but saw no reason why he should not be playing at Old Trafford.

England will go to Manchester with the chance to win their first test series since a 2-1 triumph in Sri Lanka early in 2001.

HOGGARD REVIVAL

They owe that opportunity partly to a return to form by fast bowler Matthew Hoggard, who took five for 92 in the second innings at Edgbaston.

Hussain praised Hoggard for bouncing back from a below-par performance at Lord's to win the man-of-the-match award, but also offered words of advice to help the Yorkshire paceman build on that improvement.

"Mathew still has a few technical faults in his bowling which I think he will agree is still not right. He has a no-ball problem which suggests (getting the right) rhythm, and he has got to go away and iron out those problems.

"Like everyone, you are not always playing at 100 percent. You've always got something that is creeping into your game but you just have to do your best at those times and he did that during this game."

Hoggard was one of four seamers who gave a lacklustre display in the drawn first test, though Hussain made a point of saying his criticism was not so much of how they bowled. Rather, he was asking how England were going to manage taking 20 wickets on flat pitches.

"Why aren't we producing the Muralitharans, the Shane Warnes, the (Allan) Donalds and the Brett Lees? I've been fairly critical of that side of things, not how we bowled at Lord's which was just a slow, low wicket."

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