Jayawardene keeps captaincy

Mahela Jayawardene, recipient of the ICC’s Captain of the Year award as a mere stand-in for Marvan Atapattu, has been named Sri Lankan captain for next year’s World Cup.

Following Atapattu’s decision to opt out of the forthcoming Test series against New Zealand, Jayawardene will keep the job full-time after some impressive showings in the past year.

Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors Ashantha de Mel said “Mahela has done a good job since taking over from Marvan Atapattu and he will continue until the World Cup. We are working towards the World Cup and wanted to make sure Mahela felt comfortable in his role ahead of the tournament.”

Jayawardene has been in scintillating form with the bat since taking over the role, averaging 62 in Tests and 46 in ODIs, and enjoying a fantastic tour of England earlier in the year. He also hit an incredible 374 in a Test against South Africa, the fourth highest Test score in history.