Jayawardene promises to bounce back after form slump
World Cup flop Mahela Jayawardene believes that a break away from the game will help him recharge his batteries and rediscover his batting form
CricInfo
01-Apr-2003
World Cup flop Mahela Jayawardene believes that a break away from the game
will help him recharge his batteries and rediscover his batting form.
© Reuters |
The 25-year-old right-hander has been dropped from the national squad after
a disastrous World Cup campaign that saw him amass just 21 runs in seven
innings.
Prior to the tournament he had been billed as one of the tournament's
potential stars having scored heavily for Sri Lanka since establishing his
place after the 1999 World Cup.
"Obviously, not playing is disappointing," he said. "But the break is most
welcome as I can look back and iron out whatever is wrong in my game and
come back wiser and stronger. This will help me relax and recharge myself
and make a fresh start."
He was not surprised by his omission from the Sharjah squad: "Obviously if
you are not doing well, you have to be replaced. And on that score, I
believe I cannot complain."
He is still struggling to pin-point what went wrong in South Africa.
"I got two half centuries in the warm-up games but I think, as the World Cup
progressed, I did not spent sufficient time in the middle," he said.
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"I kept batting well in the nets, so it is hard for me to really pin-point
what went wrong. However, the fact that it was a World Cup was making me try
harder and it could be that I was trying too hard.
He scotched suggestions that his high-profile involvement with a campaign to
raise funds for the development of a cancer hospital had provided a
distraction.
"When I play cricket I stay focused on the game, nothing comes between me
and the game at that stage. When I am free, yes, I do pay attention to the
hospital project.
"However, when I am away at cricket, there are others who are entrusted to
look after the project. This had no bearing whatsoever."
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Unfortunately, the domestic tournament has now been completed, meaning that
Jayawardene will lack competitive cricket as he tries to find form in time
for the New Zealand Test series.
"It is unfortunate that the domestic tournament is over. I will have to
start batting at the nets and do it with a lot of application.
"However, there are two warm-up games against New Zealand, so I guess if I
get at least one game, maybe I will be able to make some runs and hopefully
that should help."
He expects to break back into the side sooner rather than later: "I believe
that the lack of runs I went through will be temporary and I will be able to
get back to what I like doing best - scoring runs for Sri Lanka."
Jayawardene has been backed by former teammate and current selector,
Aravinda de Silva, who believes that he's Sri Lanka's best batsman.
"I personally feel that he just needs a break from continuous cricket," said
de Silva at a press conference on Monday.
"He obviously went through a bit of a hard time but I believe he is our best
batsman. I can not see any technical problems so it must be more of a mental
thing."