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COLOMBO: Veteran batsman Mahela Jayawardene quit as vice-captain and a three-member selection committee also resigned en masse in a major shake-up in Sri Lankan cricket following the team’s World Cup defeat. “I think it’s time to move on, give the reins to someone younger in the team,” Jayawardene told AFP.
The resignations came a day after Kumar Sangakkara stepped down as one-day and Twenty20 captain.
Jayawardene, 33, was vice-captain for the 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.
Jayawardene, who has scored 9,527 runs in Tests and 9,423 in one-day internationals, quit as Sri Lanka captain in February 2009.
The selectors, led by former batsman Aravinda de Silva, also handed in their resignations to Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. De Silva was the vice-captain of the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lankan side.
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.
