Former Sri Lanka Head Coach Sanath Jayasuriya has resigned from his role as Consultant to Sri Lanka Cricket's High Performance Center, with the resignation to fully take effect by the end of May.
The resignation comes after it was highlighted that Jayasuriya was also the President of the Matara District Cricket Association, and that this would be classified as a conflict of interest.
Sanath Jayasuriya tenders resignation to the Transformation Committee
Last month, the Sri Lankan government had made the SLC's executive body led by President Shammi Silva resign and appointed a nine-person Transformation Committee to oversee the change.
Apart from former cricketer Sidath Wettimuny, the committee also contains Sanath Jayasuriya's national teammates Kumar Sangakkara and Roshan Mahanama.
The Committee will be chaired by opposition politician Eran Wickramaratne, as nominated by Sports Minister Sunil Kumar Gamage
This Committee was the one that pointed out the Conflict of Interest and asked Jayasuriya to tender his resignation. Jayasuriya accepted and quit the high-performance role to continue serving Matara cricket
"Accepted the responsibility due to being requested about it" - Jayasuriya
In his resignation letter addressed to the Committee, Sanath Jayasuriya said that he had become aware of this potential conflict of interest and the concerns raised by some members of the Committee
Jayasuriya stated that he had accepted the responsibilities not out of a need for employment, but because he had been requested to assist Sri Lanka Cricket during a challenging period for the national team.
Addressing the concerns surrounding his involvement with the Matara District Cricket Association, Jayasuriya emphasized that the development of cricket in Matara remained deeply important to him as a player who emerged from the district. He added that former cricketers should be encouraged to contribute towards grassroots cricket development and maintained that he personally did not view his responsibilities as conflicting.
However, Jayasuriya noted that if members of the new administration considered the two roles incompatible, he would rather continue serving the development of cricket in Matara than remain in another official role within the system.
The former Sri Lankan opener also said he did not wish to become a distraction to the work of the new administration and expressed hope that the Cricket Transformation Committee would succeed in guiding Sri Lanka Cricket back to its glory days.
Jayasuriya further stressed that his support for Sri Lanka Cricket and Sri Lankan cricketers would never depend on holding an official position. He said he would continue to support the game and contribute towards its progress even from outside the formal structure of the administration.
Sanath Jayasuriya's previous roles with Sri Lanka Cricket
Apart from a stint as captain during his playing days, Sanath Jayasuriya has served multiple different roles in Sri Lanka Cricket.
He served in two different stints as the Chairman of Selectors for Sri Lanka. His first stint lasted between 2013 and 2015. In this period, Sri Lanka won the ODI Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup in 2014. The team also completed a famous all-format series win in England later that year.
His second stint as Chief Selectors lasted from 2016 to 2017, but this time period was marked by declining results on the field and chances being given to many players.
In July 2024, he was named the Head Coach of the Sri Lankan team on an interim basis but was awarded the full-time role in October. After Sri Lanka failed to make the semifinals of the home T20 World Cup earlier this year, Sanath Jayasuriya was replaced as Head Coach by Gary Kirsten last month.
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