COLOMBO, Feb 14: All-rounder Angelo Mathews was appointed captain of the Sri Lankan Test and One-day International teams on Thursday for a period of 11 months beginning with next month's home series against Bangladesh.
Mathews, 25, succeeds prolific batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who accepted captaincy in January 2012 for a period of one year so that Sri Lanka could groom their next skipper.
Middle-order batsman Dinesh Chandimal will lead Sri Lanka's Twenty20 side while serving as Mathews' deputy in Tests and one-dayers, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a statement.
Jayawardene stepped down after leading on a recent tour of Australia where Sri Lanka lost the Test series 3-0 and drew a one-day series 2-2.
Mathews and Chandimal will lead the teams until the end of January 2014, the SLC further said.
Mathews, with 1,668 runs in 31 Tests, has also scored 1,784 runs and taken 54 wickets in 90 One-day Internationals.
Jayawardene, with more than 10,000 runs both in Tests and one-dayers, led Sri Lanka to the finals of the 50-over World Cup in the West Indies in 2007 and then the World T20 at home last year.
The selectors named six new faces in a 20-member squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh starting on March 8 at Galle.
The new selection committee, headed by former captain Sanath Jayasuriya, made sweeping changes to accommodate batsmen Ashen Silva and Kithruwan Vithanage, seamer Dushmantha Chameera, off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal, wicket-keeper Kushal Perera and leg-spinning all-rounder Jeevan Mendis.
Perera and Mendis have played one-day cricket for Sri Lanka.
Their inclusion came at the expense of Thilan Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Prasanna Jayawardene, Suranga Lakmal and Dhammika Prasad, all of whom toured Australia last month.
Former captain Kumar Sangakkara was retained in the squad, subject to his recovery from a hand injury which he sustained in Australia.
Unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis also returned to the Test squad.
Mendis, who played his last Test in May 2011, has so far bagged 62 wickets in 16 matches.
The second Test against Bangladesh will be played in Colombo (March 16-20), while Hambantota (March 23 and 25) and Pallekele (March 28) will host the limited overs games before the teams meet in the T20 match in Pallekele on March 31.
Meanwhile, SLC also announced the appointment of Michael de Zoysa as the new manager of the national team.
De Zoysa replaces Charith Senanayake who had held the position for over a year.
A senior official of the SLC, who did not wish to be named, said that De Zoysa would take charge of the team from the series against Bangladesh.
A tea industry executive, De Zoysa is more known for his administrative roles and as a radio and TV commentator.
Senanayake, a former Test opening batsman had run into problems with the SLC hierarchy.
His fate was sealed once Jayawardene in a press release stated that Senanayake has lost confidence of the team.
Jayawardene was particularly angry as a letter written by him to the SLC regarding the payment of guarantee money to the players was leaked to the media by the manager.
Jayawardene’s request that guarantee money be paid to the supporting staff was rejected by the SLC. The former captain took exception to the matter being exposed in the media.
SLC chief executive Ajith Jayasekera said that both Jayawardene and team manager Senanayake would be asked to explain in what he termed a breach of contract by both.
Sri Lanka Test squad: Angelo Mathews (captain), Dinesh Chandimal (vice-captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dimuth Karunaratne, Ashen Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Mahela Jayawardene, Kushal Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Kithruwan Vithanage, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Shaminda Eranga, Chanaka Welegedera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Rangana Herath, Tharindu Kaushal.—Agencies