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Untitled Document
 Right balance needed between playing and resting: Jayawardene
5th Jun 2007 22:11 IST
Agencies
Asian XI captain Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka, who recently joined the ICC's Cricket Committee, today said authorities and players must strike a right balance between playing and resting to avoid burn-out.
"We talked on the issue of excess cricket at the ICC cricket committee meeting but could not arrive at a conclusion. The argument can go both ways but we should try and strike a balance between playing and resting," he said on the eve of first Afro-Asia ODI in Bangalore.
The opening match will be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and the last two ties would be staged at Chennai on June 9 and 10.
"We threw around various ideas at the meeting but no final decision was made on the subject. It's important to get regular rest days between playing matches and in between series," Jayawardene said.
The Lankan middle-order stylist said he was looking forward to the new challenge of leading a combined Asia team as opposed to leading his country's players only.
"It's a different challenge and I am looking forward to it. It's good to be in an environment different from what you are used to. You can learn a lot from the experience."
Asia XI coach Roger Binny agreed the three matches gave struggling Indian players Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh the right opportunity to recapture their wonted form and impress the selectors ahead of the meeting to pick the Indian team for Ireland and England.
"It's a good opportunity for Sehwag and Harbhajan as a good knock or some wickets can help them in the selection process," he said.
Asked how difficult it was to get motivated to play in such matches, Jayawardene said it was not difficult to do so as he was constantly pushing himself to see how much he could grow as a player.
"It's all about motivating individuals. As for as I am concerned I see every match as an opportunity to see how far I can push myself," he said.
However, the Lankan batsman admitted that due to riches in his ranks, despite the pullout of some top names, was making things difficult to choose the playing eleven for the morrow.
"I tried to do it last evening but found it difficult to decide on whom to leave out. We have four openers to choose from. I have left it to our coach (Roger Binny)," he said.
"It's a great honour to lead the Asia team. We speak different languages and come from different countries but cricket speaks a global language," he said.
The Lanka captain felt that whoever replaces Tom Moody as his country's coach will have a challenging task to step into the Australian's shoes but said he was looking forward to work with the new coach in furthering Lanka cricket.
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