Kumar Sangakarra

Sangakarra has given up the limited overs captaincy, and has given a strong hint that he wants to give up the test captaincy, this is a huge shock as he is such a good captain, and only leaves SRI Lanka 3 options.

Dilshan

Jaywardene

Samaweera

what do you guys think about sanga's decision and who do you think should replace him?

i think he's decided to go out on top which is fair play to him. i can see jayawardene taking over the captaincy, they might look to the future and let matthews or tharanga have a go?

fernando you make a good point, however i dont think Mahela would take it back after giving up for sanga, matthews might have a chance, but also Tharanga isnt in the test side, and i think they might want someone who plays all forms of the game, which is why i think Dilshan will probably get it.

Came as a bit of a surprise, but he must have been starting to feel the strain. Captaining your country is a tough job indeed.

As to who would replace him, don't really see Dilshan as captaincy material (too flashy), while Jaywardene has had the captaincy before hasn't he? Not sure they'll want to reappoint him. From your list, that only leaves Samaraweera. Have just looked up his stats, and two things strike me:

1) He's not that young, in fact he's 34 which means coming towards the end of his career (actually this is the same for Dilshan and Jayarwardene, who are both roughly the same age).

2) His ODI record is quite frankly poor (averages in the twenties, SR below 70) which suggests to me he isn't necessarily worth his spot in the ODI team.

So basically, not really convinced by either of the three options put forth here, let's have a look at some other candidates.

Upul Tharanga: hasn't played a Test since 2007, so this apparently rules him out. However, Sangakara said he wouldn't mind keeping the test captaincy on an interim basis, which would free up Tharanga to skipper the ODI side. Left-field pick certainly. On the plus side, he's young still (26),but has plenty of experience (over 100 ODIs) and is a certain starter in ODIs. Does he have any captaincy experience?

Angelo Mathews: established in both the test and ODI sides. Still relatively inexperienced though (just 13 tests). Also, is being the side's main all-rounder as well as captain too much of a burden?

Can't see any other options really. Maybe give the role to Jayarwardene or Samaraweera for a couple of years while grooming Mathews for the role, I don't know...

Personally, I think Tharanga will fit well into the test side. He's in superb form and can be defensive as well as attacking.

although they tried tharnga at test level and he failed and hasnt looked like getting back in. Also sanga said he will keep the captaincy for series against eng and aus if they want him to, but then it leaves them very short of options

interestingly in the interview of sangakara I've seen on BBC Sport he says he's standing down so the next captain can be groomed for the 2015 WC. Two points

1) Isn't it a little early to be thinking so far ahead?

2) This surely rules out Dilshan, Samaraweera and Jayawardene, who are roughly the same age as Sangakara.

This seems to leave the only two viable options as Mathews and Tharanga, with Mathews looking the likeliset choice at this point IMO