COLOMBO – Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene on Wednesday quit as vice-captain, a day after Kumar Sangakkara stepped down as one-day and Twenty20 skipper. “I think it’s time to move on, give the reins to someone younger in the team,” said Jayawardene.
Jayawardene, 33, was named vice-captain for the 2011 World Cup, where Sri Lanka lost to India by six wickets in the final in Mumbai last week despite his impressive century. Sri Lanka Cricket chairman D. S. de Silva said the governing body had accepted Jayawardene’s resignation. “The selectors will sit down in the next two to three days to choose a captain and vice-captain,” de Silva told reporters.
Jayawardene, who has scored 9,527 runs in Tests and 9,423 in one-day internationals, quit as Sri Lanka’s captain in February 2009. Sangakkara stood down on Tuesday to allow selectors to groom new leaders for the next cricket World Cup in 2015. Sri Lanka’s next international assignment is the tour of England in May-July for three Tests and five one-dayers.
Law becomes new Sri Lanka coach: Sri Lanka Cricket on Wednesday promoted assistant coach and former Australian batsman Stuart Law to guide the national team ahead of next month’s tour of England.
“He will be the new interim coach,” a spokesman for Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body of the sport in the island, said.
Law has been assisting Sri Lanka’s outgoing Australian coach Trevor Bayliss since November 2009. Sri Lanka tour England in the second week of May for three Tests and five one-day games. Bayliss, who managed the team for four years, announced his decision to quit ahead of the World Cup 2011, which Sri Lanka lost by six wickets to India in the final. He is due to coach New South Wales. Law’s interim appointment comes amid a major shake-up in Sri Lanka cricket following their World Cup defeat.
