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MELBOURNE, Thursday (Reuters) - Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes he will follow Shane Warne's lead and retire from one-day cricket to concentrate on tests.

"I only ever get injured playing one-day cricket, never tests," Muralitharan was quoted as saying in The Age newspaper on Thursday. "I'm only 30 now, but I think in maybe one or two years after the World Cup I will do the same thing as Warnie (Shane Warne)."

The Australian leg-spinner announced on Wednesday he would retire from one-day internationals after the World Cup starting next month.

Muralitharan is the third-leading wicket-taker in tests (437) and one-day internationals (304). At 33, Warne is second on the list in tests, 28 behind retired West Indies paceman Courtney Walsh's 519, and is the sixth-leading wicket-taker in the shorter version of the game on 288.

Warne, who dislocated his shoulder in a one-day match against England in Melbourne last month, said the one-day games took a far greater toll on his body than tests.

However, he is expected to return to the Australia side on Thursday for the first final of the triangular one-day series against England in Sydney.

Sri Lanka missed out on a place in the best-of-three match finals and Muralitharan has left Australia with the team, possibly for the last time on a tour of the country.

"I will speak to my parents and some former Sri Lankan captains about it," he said from Melbourne airport.

"It depends how I feel, but I think this is probably my last time (touring Australia).

"I hope to put that (no Australia tours clause) in my next contract, and then that would be it."

Muralitharan, who bowls with an unusual bent-arm action, has been no-balled for throwing in 1995-96 and 1998-99 tours of Australia but his action has since been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC). He was taunted by Australia supporters as a "chucker" in one-day series matches earlier this month and has said he may not tour the country again because of the crowd's behaviour.

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