Jayawardene calls stumps

Sri Lanka cricket legend Mahela Jayawardene will retire from Test cricket after his country's forthcoming series against South Africa and Pakistan.

The Test retirement follows his decision to quit T20 cricket after the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh, which Sri Lanka won earlier this year.

He will play four final Tests, all in Sri Lanka, with two against South Africa starting Wednesday, and another two-Test series against Pakistan in August.

"It was not an easy decision to make given that it has been a great privilege and honour representing my country during the past 18 years, but I believe this is the right time," Jayawardene said in a statement.

The two-Test series against the Proteas begins Wednesday in Galle. Australians will be backing the home side as a Proteas win will mean they leapfrog Australia at the top of the ICC Test world rankings.

Jayawardene made his Test debut in August 1997 and has a high score of 374. He has scored 11,493 runs in 145 Tests at an average of 50.18 with 33 hundreds.

His 11,493 Test runs is equal sixth on the all-time list, alongside team-mate Kumar Sangakarra. A further 461 runs in his final four Tests would take him past West Indies legend Brian Lara.

A former captain of Sri Lanka, Jayawardene has committed to ODI cricket for Sri Lanka, with the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand next year.

In 420 ODIs, Jayawardene has scored 11,681 runs.