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Lancashire must stop relying on Muttiah Muralitharan to pull them out of relegation danger.

That was the clear message from coach Dav Whatmore after they went down to their fourth defeat of the season against Surrey at the Oval yesterday, keeping them rooted in the bottom three with even more ground to make up to finish in the top nine.

Murali has now taken 24 wickets in two matches yet is still to play on the winning side. And Whatmore said: ``We look like we are relying on a couple of individuals rather than playing more as a team.

``We're not far away, but at the moment we still need to address a couple of little issues that will help shape the game a bit more in our favour rather than waiting for individuals tp pull it out of the bag for us.

``It's extremely frustrating to have gone so close to a win, but not to get the points, but the game was not lost on the last day. It's our performance on the first three days that concerns me more, particularly our batting. We've got to get our act together in that department.'

Muralitharan has earned another place in cricket history by taking 40 wickets in six consecutive first class innings, going back to his demolition of England at the Oval last year - an effort which has been bettered only six times, the last by Yorkshire's Hedley Verity in 1933.

Lancashire have two one day games next week in the NatWest Trophy against Hertfordshire at Radlett on Wednesday and the Benson and Hedges Super Cup at home to Sussex two days later, before their next championship game against Essex at Old Trafford.