Tillakaratne Dilshan backs Mahela Jayawardene for England
Wednesday 19 August 2015 17:34, UK
Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan believes England will be making a “very good choice” should they add Mahela Jayawardene to their coaching set-up.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed earlier this month that talks had taken place with Jayawardene about joining England as a batting consultant for their tour of the United Arab Emirates to play Pakistan.
Dilshan said: "He's done well for Sri Lanka as a captain. He might be a good choice for England, he has massive experience which he will share with the English players.
"Definitely Mahela is a very good spin player. All over the world he's one of the best spin players I have ever seen.
"It might be he can give some experiences with the young England batting unit. It might be England batsmen can get lot of things from Mahela."
Jayawardene played 149 Tests for Sri Lanka - scoring over 11,000 runs - 448 one-day internationals and 55 T20 internationals.
Should Jayawardene's appointment be made, the 38-year-old will link up with his former national coach Trevor Bayliss, currently in charge of Ashes winners England.
England struggled on the 2012 tour to UAE where Pakistan won the Test series 3-0.
The 2015 series begins in mid-October, and Dilshan said: "Jayawardene is a good thinker. I've played with a lot of captains in my career. He is a very good thinker as a captain in the middle.
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"He's thinking different things. He's a very good choice for England.
"Definitely in Asia, all foreign teams are struggling with playing spin. It might be towards the future, the (Twenty20) World Cup coming in February in India, might be that's why they've chosen Mahela."
