Can’t commit to full-time coaching: Mahela Jayawardene after leading Southern Brave to The Hundred title

Having led Southern Brave to a title win in the inaugural season of The Hundred, their chief coach and former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene were asked whether he would consider coaching national teams, now that he has three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians as a coach and one with Brave.

Responding to it, the Sri Lankan categorically denied any such plans as of now because he wants to spend time with his family and doesn’t want to live out of a suitcase or on the road all the time.

"Having done 18 years of international cricket as a player I don't want to live out of a suitcase for 12 months of the year,” said the man with more than 25,000 international runs in his kitty.

Jayawardene however confirmed that his current structure of helping franchise teams as consultants would remain in place. "I'm happy to help out as a consultant here and there (with Sri Lanka) but not on a full-time basis because I would not enjoy that personally,” he said. "This is a good challenge for me and it's early days. I don't do too many tournaments so that I have my personal time to spend back home with the family,” he further added.

Having spent a lot of time with Southern brave, Jayawardene feels that Tymal deserves a place in the England squad for the T20 World Cup for the hard work he has done and the kind of talent he possesses. Mills was instrumental in Brave's Eliminator win against Trent rickets and Final victory against Birmingham Phoenix.

"I'd be disappointed if he's not on that plane for the World Cup. Throughout the competition, he's been fantastic. Tymal Mills is always going to be an asset. In the shorter format of the game, he knows his skills and it's a hard skill that he's executing,” said Jayawardene about the man who did not consider a single boundary in the knockout stage of the tournament and picked four wickets as well in two matches.

With the remainder of the IPL to be played in September-October, the 44-year-old Sri Lankan would have his task cut out as he would be preparing to lead Mumbai Indians to title hattrick with the team having won the titles in 2019 and 2020 under his guidance.

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Afg vs Pak series shifted to Pakistan from Sri Lanka due to Taliban situation

The three-match ODIs series between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been shifted to Pakistan from Sri Lanka’s Hambantota, where it was supposed to be hosted. The decision was taken by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) due to the hurdles faced in travel due to the Covid-19 situation in Sri Lanka and the Taliban take over of Afghanistan recently. A cricket website ESPNCricinfo quoted ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari as confirming the developments. Initially, the series was to be played in UAE, but due to the announcement of the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman and prevailing travel bans, the ACB shifted the series to Sri Lanka even as PCB offered to host the series. The Sri Lanka plan had to be aborted as the Afghanistan team was supposed to travel to Pakistan by road, then fly to Dubai, and then on to Colombo for the series. However, since travelling to Sri Lanka would now mean heavy quarantines and the route has got circuitous, the ACB decided to hold the series in Pakistan itself and now the Afghan squad will travel to Pakistan later this week. This will be the first bilateral series between the two teams. And this would still remain a home series for Afghanistan. Although Pakistan have not announced the squad for the series, it is being assumed that all format players like Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali would be rested for this series so that they remain fresh for the New Zealand and England series as well as the T20 World Cup in September October and November respectively.

South Africa’s assistant coach resigns after being sidelined by Mark Boucher and Co.

South Africa cricket team’s assistant coach Enoch Nkwe has resigned from his position after being sidelined in decision making and treated as Conor boy. If reports are to be believed, he will not be travelling with the team to Sri Lanka for the limited-over series scheduled to take place from September 2 to 14 in Colombo “TimesLIVE can exclusively reveal that Nkwe has quit the Proteas and stated in his resignation letter that the working environment within the team management has become a contaminated space for him to continue to work in,” a South African media house reported. Quoting sources, the media house further said that Cricket South Africa has refused to accept the resignation of the former Lions player and coach, citing that is a grave matter and has summoned the coach for a meeting with the board members. “The board, after hearing of his resignation refused to accept it and instead summoned the assistant coach to come and state his case before them, because his reasons for leaving are serious and very concerning,” the report quoted a source as saying. Nkwe, who was appointed as head coach of the team after a disastrous 2019 World Cup, headed the team only for its India tour where the Proteas lost the Test series 0-3 and drew the T20I series 1-1 with a comparatively new set-up. The Black coach of the team was then suddenly demoted to the position of assistant coach and Director of Cricket of CSA, Graeme Smith appointed former South Africa player Mark Boucher as the coach of the Head coach even though he didn’t possess the desired qualifications. The 38-year-old Nkwe was once again not part of the team’s West Indies tour in May-June this year and the reason offered by CSA were family responsibility leave. But now as things are developing, it seemed there were other hidden reasons. “Nkwe feels that his inputs as an assistant coach are not valued and taken into consideration. He feels he has been reduced to being a ‘cones boy’. He does not feel he is part of the team,” the report said. The South Africa team would leave for Sri Lanka on August 25. CSA on its part said accepted that Nkwe indeed approached them with his resignation letter. "Nkwe has indeed signalled an intention to resign, and this matter is being considered by the Board. A further statement will be made when these consultations have been concluded," said the CSA in its statement.

My family has sacrificed a lot for my cricket: Jos Buttler indicates he might miss Ashes

England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler is considering pulling out of Ashes too after having already ditched the remainder of IPL to spend time with his family, especially his wife, who is expecting their second child. "One of the challenges is working out where the line is where you say I can't do that. I've sacrificed a lot for cricket and my wife and family have sacrificed a lot,” Buttler was quoted as saying to Sunday Times. The 30-year-old, who has been in a rugged form in Test cricket, further said that saying no should be an option for players, especially at times when bubble life is actually troubling people to maintain a healthy work-life balance. "You have to be open to saying no. It would be incredibly disappointing if some players feel like they can't do it, but we're in a world at the moment where that is a possibility,” he said. Talking about going to Australia for the Ashes, Buttler said that he would only be able to make a decision once Cricket Australia confirms about families travelling with the players. "Covid is incredibly challenging for everyone and Australia has a very strict policy in how they've tried to deal with it. Until we get more information about what it [the Australia tour] might look like, it's impossible to know what decision you're making,” he said. It is also not clear whether Buttler would play the last Test between England and India also, as he would likely take leave to be with his wife.

Vice captain Ajinkya Rahane not concerned about criticism ahead of third Test

Brushing aside the criticism he received for three bad innings in the first two Tests of the ongoing five-match series against England, Ajinkya Rahane said that he hardly cares for what people say. “I am happy people are talking about me. I believe people talk about important people and I am not too concerned about that,” Rahane said during the virtual press conference before the third Test at Headingley beginning on August 25. Rahane, whoever played a crucial 146 ball 61 run knock in India’s second innings in the Lord’s Test and added 100 runs, most importantly consumed 297 balls together with Cheteshwar Pujara to keep the team in the match. “It was really satisfying, I always believe in contribution and for me, I always think about the team and my innings of 61 was really important. Team performance is always the ultimate goal,” said the 33-year-old. “It’s all about contributing to the team. Pujara and I know how to handle pressure. What I cannot control, I am not worried about,” he further added. Talking about the next game, India’s vice-captain said that he and the team are in a good headspace and want to encash on the confidence booster come from behind win at Lord’s. “Not thinking too much about conditions. All players are in a good headspace and it’s all about having confidence and putting the best foot forward,” said Rahane. The right-hander also went on to confirm that Shardul Thakur, who missed the second Test due to injury was available for selection in the third Test. "Shardul Thakur is fit and available for selection for the 3rd Test. Now, we have to look at which combination we are going with. All the fast bowlers are ready to play and they want to play as the break after the 2nd Test helped," he said.