COLOMBO: Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene is set to take over a role with the country’s cricket administration to develop the infrastructure of the local game at the feeder level.

Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake said Jayawardene, 37, has consented to a futuristic role in restructuring the schools and junior level cricket, PTI news agency said.

Jayawardene, who retired from ODIs after the just-concluded World Cup, was one of the finest batsmen to come through the highly competitive school cricket set up.

The right-hander was a brilliant batsman for Nalanda College in Colombo, which has produced so many top cricketers for Sri Lanka, including the country’s first Test captain Bandula Warnapura.

In recent years, the school system has failed to produce outstanding cricketers to be fed in to the national team.

Introduction of T20 cricket at school level is being seen as a major reason.

In 2007, a similar role was thrust on Aravinda de Silva, a former captain and one of the finest batsmen of his era, to revamp junior cricket.

Dissanayake, after Sri Lanka’s exit from the quarter-finals of the 50-over showpiece event, has set out to revamp the local governing body administration by setting up an interim committee headed by the former Test opening batsman Sidath Wettimuny. They are to take office from Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play