Angelo Mathews: Legacy of both triumph and disappointment

The first test match which got underway in Galle yesterday between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is most probably the swansong of the former Sri Lankan Cricket Captain Angelo Mathews – one of the illustrious international cricketers produced by the island nation – in international cricket. Coincidentally, it was in the same ground Mathews made his debut in the longest version of the game 16 years ago as a 22-year-old promising young all-rounder against Pakistan under the captaincy of Kumar Sangakkara.

The arrival of Mathews to the national cricket team in 2008 raised the expectations of cricket fans in the country, as many felt he could have fulfilled the role of the fast bowling-oriented all-rounder in the calibre of Shaun Pollock or Jacques Kallis, which the Sri Lankan Cricket team lacked for eternity. Prior to Mathews, Farveez Maharoof was looked up to as the player who could be Sri Lanka’s version of Shaun Pollock, but his persistent injuries and inconsistent performances dashed those hopes. Unfortunately for both Mathews and Sri Lankan Cricket, frequent injuries to his lower-body and back significantly affected his ability to perform as a bowler, and as a result he was rarely used as a bowler for extensive periods.

The outgoing cricketer’s ambition to score 10,000 runs in Test Cricket could not be accomplished as Sri Lanka plays very few 5-day matches unlike England and India apart from the disruption to international cricket schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the commencement of his final test match, the former Josephian had accumulated a batting average of almost 45. However, at the end of 2015, Mathews had an impressive batting average of 51.50 in red-ball cricket after scoring 2378 runs at an average of 59.45 between 2013 and 2015. The period of 2014-15 was the peak of his international career not only as an individual cricketer but as a captain too. Sadly, his performance as an individual cricketer never reached those heights thereafter.

The impressive test series victory against England in the shores of the opponents during 2014 under his captaincy was one of his happiest moments in his career. Mathews is also the only Sri Lankan captain to achieve a 3-0 test series victory against the powerful Australian team in 2016.  Australia was the number-one-ranked team in red ball-cricket at that time, and Sri Lanka had only won a solitary test match against them before. 

The slump of Angelo Mathews’ individual performance and captaincy coincided with the disastrous tenure of Sanath Jayasuriya’s second stint (2016 to 2017) as Chairman of the Sri Lankan Cricket Selection Committee. During the aforesaid period, the former MP selected players haphazardly without obtaining the views of the captain and coach. Jayasuriya’s arrogant and ridiculous approach to the selection of players unsettled the mind of Mathews and had a detrimental effect on his performance. During the England Tour in 2016, the latter went into a heated argument with the former over the selection of Ramith Rambukwella, the son of the controversial politician Keheliya Rambukwella who had a poor track record in terms of discipline, instead of Milinda Siriwardena – a cricketer with proven credentials – for a T20 encounter.

Nevertheless, the right-handed batsman has been accused by some for ignoring his fitness and not changing his food habits. Critics have blamed him for not working hard on his fitness apart from not giving up his alleged penchant for overconsumption of food. His poor running between the wickets in shorter formats of the game was publicly slammed by the former coach Chandika Hathurisinghe.

The devout Roman Catholic has a huge fan following, and is highly respected and admired by the young cricketers of the team. Whatever critics might say, his contribution to the most popular game of the country was phenomenal. His departure from the game signals an end of an era in Sri Lankan Cricket.