Jayawardene brushes off SLC president’s criticism

COLOMBO: Mahela Jayawardene has brushed off criticism from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Thilanga Sumathipala, contending that his ten-day consulting role with England is largely geared toward player development and not toward providing specific tactical information. He has also said Sumathipala’s questioning of his ethics was “laughable”.

“My role with England is to help develop their cricketers, and to help with how they should approach different challenges — like playing spin,” Jayawardene said.

“The pools hadn’t been decided when I agreed to do it. England didn’t hire me to give information on the Sri Lankan team. They have analysts and coaches to do that. I’m quite disappointed to see those comments from the board, to be fair.”

Jayawardene didn’t rule out being asked to provide specific information on Sri Lanka’s players and tactics, but said his ability to provide such insights was tempered by his having retired almost a year ago.