Jayawardena gets The Hundred League role

Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardena has got a job in The Hundred League. The former Sri Lanka cricket team captain will be the men’s team head coach for the Southampton-based franchisee in the inaugural edition of ECB’s 100-ball-a-side professional league.

Director of women’s cricket at Hampshire and former England women’s team skipper Charlotte Edwards is named the women’s team head coaches.

Jayawardena brings with him an experience of 18 years of international cricket and more than 10,000 international runs in various forms of cricket. Jayawardena has captained Sri Lanka in 186 game.

As a coach, Jayawardena has guided Mumbai Indians to the 2017 and 2019 Indian Premier League titles.

Mumbai Indians bowling coach and Sydney Thunder head coach Shane Bond will be Jayawardena’s deputy at Southampton. Former Hampshire batsman Jimmy Adams and former England and Bangladesh assistant coach Richard Halsall are the other names in the coaching staff.

“The Hundred is an innovative and exciting new tournament and it is a great privilege to be Head Coach of the Southampton-based team. I’ve played international and county cricket at Southampton. It’s a great place and I’m looking forward to going back,” said Jayawardena and added, “I am delighted to be working alongside Shane Bond and some of the talented young coaches from both Sussex and Hampshire.

“I think The Hundred will interest the world’s best players because England is a great place to play cricket. The structure of the tournament is good and that means most of the guys will put their name in the hat because this is a tournament that excites them.”

Mahela Jayawardena won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 with Sri Lanka. He scored more than 10,000 runs in Tests and ODIs for his country.

Mahela Jayawardena won the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 with Sri Lanka. He scored more than 10,000 runs in Tests and ODIs for his country.