SLC unhappy about Jayawardene’s England gig

Cricket365
March 18, 2016

The president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Thilanga Sumathipala, is very disappointed that Mahela Jayawardene will assist England at the upcoming World T20, starting in India in March.

Jayawardene is a legend of Sri Lanka cricket having played 149 Tests, 448 ODIs and 55 T20Is while he also played an integral part in helping his country win the WorldT20 in Bangladesh in 2014.

Sumathipala does not have a problem with Jayawardene working with another side but he thinks there should be a cooling off period when players retire for them to work with another national side.

Jayawardene retired from international cricket after last year's World Cup and would have played with most of the current players in the Sri Lanka squad.

England and Sri Lanka are in the same group for the global event and play each other in Delhi on 26 March.

Sumathipala said: "I had a lot of respect and gratitude for Mahela's knowledge, but now he's advisor to a competing team of ours.

"I'm very disappointed that a national captain, within a few months of retirement, has been retained by another team at a World Cup.

"You could go to a club, a province, an IPL kind of team, or a county. But this is a World Cup. You can't have a player who has just left your country's team joining a competitive nation.

"All the contracted players who are playing, once they retire from the game, should have at least 24 months before joining another team for giving advice or coaching.

"You need that minimum cooling-off period, because you were recently in the team. You know the team's strengths and its weaknesses because you're inside the team.

"You know your team planning ahead of the World Cup. I think I've been very sad and disappointed by this."