Team has never been more upbeat, says Jayawardene

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka's fourth coach in the last 12 years may have gone, but with Trevor Penney in place now and Trevor Bayliss due to take over from September, Mahela Jayawardene knows it is time to move on.

"Whether Tom is here or not we have to continue to do the hard work. Tom's been great for us for the last two years. He's made a decision and we have to move on. We know the brand of cricket that we've been playing and the commitment and the hard work that we've done," said Jayawardene as they prepare to play their first series, against Bangladesh in the post-Moody era.

"Trevor is here to continue Tom's legacy and make sure we do the same stuff. Everyone knows their roles, physically everyone is pretty fit. We will work with the new coach and try and improve ourselves to the next level. That's our challenge and how we should look at improving ourselves," Jayawardene said.

Jayawardene praised the contribution of the previous four coaches who had handled Sri Lanka - Dav Whatmore, Bruce Yardley, John Dyson and Moody.

"All brought something different to the table. They tried to improve our standards and different areas in our game. The good thing about all four of them is that they didn't try to change the brand of cricket we played. That was the healthy part.

"As a team we made a lot of improvements because we had our identity all the way through those periods. Throughout they've tried to improve us which was great. Every time a new coach comes you have to take it very positively and work hard with him and see where we can go," he said.

The biggest factor which has helped Sri Lanka over the last two years, Jayawardene said, is that the players have become leaders of their own. It is something which former captain Marvan Atapattu tried to instill during his tenure and what Jayawardene has implemented successfully.

"Captaincy is about trying and controlling things out there in the middle. The guys we have in the team know their roles inside out. I want everyone to be a leader out there and know exactly what they are doing and what they are capable of doing," said Jayawardene.

"If you're a professional team and playing at the highest level everyone should realise what they need to do out there. They should think with their feet. They'll make mistakes and they'll learn from that. If you give them the freedom only they will mature into good cricketers. I just have to guide them in the right direction. The most important thing is to keep the team happy."

Jayawardene pointed out that it was one of the reasons for the team's success. "Why we are making a lot of strides especially playing away from home is that the guys are taking that extra responsibility to perform. We are not just letting things go thinking this is not our condition and giving up. We are fighting for everything. It is a healthy environment to have. Young guys like Lasith (Malinga), Upul (Tharanga), (Farveez) Maharoof and (Malinga) Bandara have matured into good cricketers very quickly within a period of 3-4 years," Jayawardene said.

"Our targets would be to maintain the cricket we've been playing and try and improve on it. Our Test record has been pretty good. We performed really well away from home. We just need to continue to do that and need to dominate in Sri Lanka. Those are the challenges we have in our longer version," Jayawardene continued.

"In the one-day version we have to maintain the consistency that we showed in the past 16 months. It's not going to be easy. We need to focus on long term and short term plans what we consider for our future. That will be to try a few players in certain situations and give them the exposure. These players need the exposure to see where they fit in our long term plans. We have to make sure we give the experienced guys the opportunity in our short term plans."