Mahela Jayawardene opens up about his new role as England's batting consultant

Mahela Jayawardene with England head coach Trevor Bayliss and captain Alastair Cook

England’s new batting consultant Mahela Jayawardene has spoken out about his new role and said that he enjoys imparting his knowledge about cricket with the youngsters in the team, in an exclusive interview in ECB’s official website. The former Sri Lankan legend was offered a role as a consultant in July earlier this year.

The former captain, who finished his illustrious career with more than 10,000 runs in Test cricket, was excited about offering his expertise and valuable advice to the English batsmen. About his role in the team for the Pakistan tour, Mahela said his job is to teach about how cricket is played in the sub-continent and how cricketers should get acclimatised with those conditions. “I’m trying to give them analysis of how cricket is played in the subcontinent and what mindset is required,” he says.

“You need to broaden your horizons and challenge yourself in different areas to be a better all-round cricketer whether you’re a batsman, bowler or even a fielder.”

Jayawardene was roped in as a consultant due to his strong relationship with head coach Trevor Bayliss and his assistant Paul Farbrace, who were part of the Sri Lankan coaching staff before. “It was a very good relationship [with Trevor and Paul], tactically there was an understanding of how the game is played and tactically we went quite far with the strength we had”, said the Sri Lankan.

The 38-year old was one of the pillars in the Sri Lankan team along with the recently retired Kumar Sangakkara, and the two of them forged a wonderful relationship over the years, both on and off the field, scoring runs, breaking records and dismantling the opposition bowling line-up. The secret of success, Mahela felt, was maintaining the same mental stability and technique throughout one’s career.

“You can make a few small adjustments in technique, but it’s more about the mentality and how you approach those innings because the conditions are going to be different and the bowlers are going to be different”, he felt.

“Have a solid gameplan against each opposition and go and execute it, that is the challenge that every player has. Every day someone will throw a challenge at you or the conditions will throw a challenge at you and you just have to cope with that.”

About the challenges in the current England set-up, Mahela remarked that decision-making was a crucial aspect in the team and maintained the importance of staying calm in tough situations.

“That’s an area that we’re trying to improve in this group; to stay calm in situations and to be more proactive in making positive decisions. It’s about patience, you might have to grind yourself in for a little while and then find ways of scoring runs,” he added. “This is a very simple game between bat and ball, runs and wickets,” he said.

He also went on to pick a few of the England players who he felt, were always keen to learn more from him and said that in general, players have a healthy attitude in the team, thanks to the seniors.

“I love the approach of the young guys who have come into this system and haven’t had a lot of experience in the subcontinent. Guys like Jonny [Bairstow] and James [Taylor], plus Moeen [Ali] wants to learn and is always asking lots of questions. Even Belly [Ian Bell] and Cooky [Alastair Cook], they’re obviously experienced campaigners, but the attitude they have is to improve. And there are naturally gifted players like Stokesy [Ben Stokes] who just enjoy these kinds of challenges”, he signed off.