Mahela Jayawardene shows interest in the USA cricket team

Mahela Jaywardene who was in US playing Cricket All Star League is said to have showed interest in local and regional players.

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene  has put forward talks of involvements in USA cricket team in near future, including the Cricket All-Stars vs USA v All-Stars exhibition match. “If the opportunity arises, the ideal scenario would be for an All-Star team to play the USA team, if we come next time around,” Jayawardene said in Los Angeles, at the time of the final stop on the Cricket All-Stars tour. He further adds “If you get a few of the younger guys involved in it, who have just recently retired, you can probably have a good game. You can give [USA] an opportunity to play a match against some of the good players” reports from espncricinfo.com.ALSO READ: Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene sign up for PSL 2016

“I still think guys like Warney [Shane Warne] and Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] probably still can bowl the way they were bowling. So it is a great opportunity I think,” added Jayawardene.  As per sources, an attempt was made by local officials to include USA players in the actual All-Stars squads. ALSO READ: Mahela Jayawardene wants England to keep things simple against Pakistan

The list includes Barbados Tridents, wicket keeper-batsman Steven Taylor, also a lot of other U.S players who were recently selected to be a part of a combined ICC Americas team to play in the 2016 WICB Nagico Super50. A settlement was made to have U.S national and regional players to bowl in the net for the All-Stars training sessions and two players were appointed as 12th Man for either team in the games in each city. This gives an opportunity for participation of local players in the festivities from the All-Stars. Jayawardene is supporting them to get more opportunities on a follow-up visit though, and describes their talent as “quite good” through his interactions with them on tour.

“They were getting tips from Warne and Murali and [Glenn] McGrath and all these guys, it’s fantastic for them,” Jayawardene said. “That kind of interaction for them, you understand the game in a better way, how it works in the mind as well. So it’s a great opportunity, and this is just at practice. Imagine if you could get those guys to play in tournaments as well and proper matches,” says Jayawardene.

“That’s something that we could look forward to if everything goes well, and something that US cricket could come up with and see whether they can have a match organized. There are opportunities and things we could try to do to get the profile of cricket in the US to a different level. If we are to promote the game and to get the kids involved and get the ball rolling, I think we just need to keep doing these kind of events on a regular basis,” explains Jayawardene when they played New Zealand in the first two T20Is by Full Members in the USA. At the same place, Jayawardene remembers his visit, with the Sri Lanka team to Florida in 2010.

“It gives them a bit of exposure so that people get to see where they are and what needs to be done to improve,” Jayawardene said. “[The All-Stars] is just a byproduct I think and you need to make sure the international game should come here as well, especially places like Toronto where you have good cricket grounds.

“We went there [in 2008] and it was a good tournament as well. Pakistan, us, [Zimbabwe] and Canada played in it as well, so it gave their guys a national opportunity. So we should try to see whether that kind of tournament can be organised on a regular basis.”