Sri Lanka Cricket on Thursday appointed former opener Sanath Jayasuriya as the full-time Cricket Consultant for one year to ensure all-round development of the sport in the country.

The appointment of Jayasuriya follows the reconstitution of the national selection panel on Wednesday under new lead selector and former opener Upul Tharanga.

“Under this role, Jayasuriya will be responsible for ensuring that SLC national programmes achieve an optimum level of professionalism and that all players and coaching staff are monitored in order to deliver excellence,” the SLC said in a media release.

“Accordingly, he will oversee the training, coaching requirements of all teams aligned with the high-performance center.

“He will also establish national specialist skills programmes with key staff aligned to lead roles within each skill discipline, among several other tasks,” the release added.

Jayasuriya will immediately assume duties in his new role and he will operate from the High-Performance Center at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Sri Lanka are trying to turn around their cricketing fortunes after a shoddy effort in the recent ODI World Cup where they finished ninth in the 10-team table with just two wins from nine matches.

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