Friday, 16 August 2013 23:59
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ESPNCricinfo: Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka batsman, is set to join the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League. He tweeted on Thursday morning that he had received a call-up from the franchise. The Sri Lanka batsman will replace South Africa’s Davy Jacobs, who was ruled out following an injury.
Jayawardene is expected to fly out to the Caribbean on Thursday afternoon, ahead of T&T’s game against the St. Lucia Zouks in Kingston on Saturday. “It’s going to be a long trip to get over there, but I am looking forward to meeting up with the guys as soon as possible and hopefully helping us secure a berth in the CPL semi-finals this coming weekend,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve always loved playing cricket in the Caribbean, so I am really looking forward to a short stint with T&T Red Steel.”
He will be the second Sri Lanka player to feature in the CPL, with Muttiah Muralitharan turning out for the Jamaica Tallawahs. Jawayardene joins Ross Taylor and Kevin O’Brien as one of the franchise’s overseas players. Australian batsman Aaron Finch had earlier withdrawn from the squad to lead Australia A on their tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
T&T, usually the powerhouse of regional T20 cricket in the Caribbean, suffered a poor start to the franchise-based CPL, losing three consecutive games before producing two wins. With two games to go in the league phase of the tournament, they sit fifth out of six teams on the points table. Their remaining matches are this weekend, against St. Lucia – the only team below them on the points table – on Saturday and the Jamaica Tallawahs on Sunday.
