Cricket: Mahela to join Central Stags for Twenty20 Super Smash

Mahela Jayawardene will become one of the biggest names to grace New Zealand’s Twenty20 cricket competition after he was signed by the Central Stags on Tuesday (29).   Stags general manager Lance Hamilton confirmed Jayawardene had put pen to paper and will join them for the final six games of the Super Smash, and finals weekend in New Plymouth in December if they make it.   The 38-year-old veteran of 149 tests and 448 one-day internationals is comfortably the highest profile Stags recruit and sits up with Muttiah Muralitharan and Brett Lee (both Wellington Firebirds) as one of the biggest names to feature in the 10-year history of the New Zealand T20 competition.   Originally he was pencilled in for the entire 10 rounds but there was a slight hitch in the form of the Shane Warne-Sachin Tendulkar T20 All-Stars league at US baseball stadiums, which Jayawardene signed up for.   It means he won’t arrive until Central’s round five clash with Wellington at Nelson’s Saxton Oval on November 19.   It gives the Stags the most imposing top order in the competition, with Jayawardene joining new Black Cap George Worker and the destructive Jesse Ryder who returns to the team where he made his name after stints with Wellington and Otago.   Jayawardene called time on his glittering 18-year international career after the World Cup in March.   In 149 Tests he topped 11,000 runs and averaged 49.84, and his influence continued in retirement as he was hired by England as a batting consultant for next month’s series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.   He had mixed success in T20 leagues in England and West Indies in recent months.   In eight games for Sussex, Jayawardene averaged 34 at a strike rate of 141, while in the Caribbean Premier League he struggled in scoring just 33 runs from seven innings at 4.71.   In 187 career T20 matches Jayawardene averages 28 at a strike rate of 130, including 28 half-centuries and two centuries.