Former captain Mahela Jayawardene hailed Angelo Mathews, whose brilliant batting has brought Sri Lanka close to winning their maiden Test series in England.
Mathews has been outstanding in England having posted two centuries and picked up four wickets in England’s first innings.
In Sri Lanka’s second innings yesterday, Mathews slammed a career best 160 and showed maturity when the side was in deep trouble.
Mahela at the post-match media conference admitted it was one of the best knocks he saw in Test cricket.
Here are the excerpts.
On Sri Lanka’s fight back
It was a quite commendable fight back. Everyone put their hand up at different stages. We wanted to bat on that wicket anyway. From day one, we knew it was going to be a bit tough. That second afternoon – the way we picked up those wickets was very crucial, and that shifted the momentum our way and from there onwards we haven’t looked back.
On Angelo Mathews
A lot of credit should go to the way Angelo batted today. It was a fantastic knock. One of the best I’ve seen. It was a fighting knock and a great partnership at the end to turn things around for us.
How good a day was it?
We had a few when we beat South Africa in Durban. This is one of those days. There are a few other occasions. We’ve beaten England here as well. Going into this series we knew that we’ve won pretty much everything. The World T20, the one-dayers – we kept ourselves alive at Lord’s. Coming here it was a great opportunity for us to win a Test series. So in that context, I thought it was a fantastic day and a fantastic fight back. There’s a bit more work to do, but we’ll go back and have a chat and do the same disciplines that worked for us.
On showing England how to bowl seam at Headingley?
We were telling a couple of their batsman that as well. Their idea of hurting us and hitting us on the head probably doesn’t work. If you’re getting that good length up front, getting the ball to do a bit and being patient, one way or another, people will nick it. I thought we hung in there. We were disciplined enough. We had to get a few hits on our bodies, but I’m sure tomorrow afternoon we’ll have a good laugh about it.
On England’s defensive field setting.
Obviously that showed that they were worried as well. The message to our boys was that we just take whatever singles on offer. Angelo batted really well in that situation, safeguarding the tail and taking the opportunity to go for those big shots when the field was in. It was the right way for Angie to go. He didn’t have to take too many risks when the field was back, but whenever he needed to take a risk, he did. That showed that they were on the back foot and we just needed to drive that advantage we had forward.
Surprised by England tactics?
I think even in the first innings, when we bowled at them and Angelo came and took those late wickets on that third day, it was pretty much bowling up to the batters and moving the ball. We’ve discussed throughout that every time they bowled up to us. It was a bit worrying, but a lot of short stuff, we managed to get away for a few runs. We told our guys, let’s bowl fuller and straighter and see what happens. We might give away a few boundaries driving, but eventually we’ll get a few rewards. Runs on the board will add a bit more pressure on them going for those shots – those big drives. That’s what happened. We created opportunities by bowling that fuller length.
On Angelo’s leadership skills.
He is a natural leader and that’s why we’ve made that conscious decision to give him the reins while we are there. He can get whatever help he can get. As you can see, he knows how to handle himself under pressure. He was calm under pressure. He’s done that for the last three years consistently and some of the younger guys look up to him. Even though he’s still 26, he’s got a good group of players looking up to him, which is the most important thing as a captain. The group of young guys we have is very good. They work very hard toward success and it’s been fantastic.
Angelo looked annoyed with Prasad’s batting, is he happier now?
I think we put a lot of pressure on the tail because they haven’t contributed. They are a good group who can bat, but they haven’t really focused on their batting and giving us those extra 20-30 runs. We’ve had a chat with them so that’s why Angelo was disappointed. Today our tail wagged and wagged well so he was pretty happy with that.”
On Prasad
He was quite disappointed. He was in a corner in the dressing room with a bat for half-an-hour in the morning then got out first ball so a lot of guys were giving him stick. It fired him up. He’s a character in the team. He showed some real steel in the middle and was aggressive but in a very positive way.
On Alastair Cook
I definitely feel for him but it doesn’t help when you have arguments with commentators and past cricketers. That’s something you can’t control. You try and control what’s there for you which is trying to perform and carry yourself through. Forget about things you can’t control and control the things you can.
England players chirpy?
They were quite chirpy but they quietened up after the first hour or so. That’s part of the game. We know who is on top and who is not. They were quite chirpy yesterday evening as well and they probably got quite a few from us when they came to bat and they’ll definitely get some more in the morning as well.
England vulnerable to sledging?
That’s something we spoke about. We had to wait a bit longer because we were not in a position to put them under pressure in this series. We’ve seen that under pressure they’re not quite up to it so we’ll definitely look forward to tomorrow. There are a few young guys to come in and they’ll get some.
The second innings score beyond expectation?
With 100 run deficit, the objective was to get 175-200 run lead. That would have been competitive, but what we’ve got is more than we expected. We were quite happy with that. 200-250 was something we were really going for. What we got was a bonus. The hero was Rangana today. Hopefully Rangana will have more of a say tomorrow.
How important is the series win?
It’s been a memorable six months and it would be fantastic to cap it off. We’ve beaten England here but to win a Test series is something fantastic. We’ll all appreciate that. We worked hard for it and the success we get is about Sri Lankan cricket. That will give our next generation something to look forward to and strive to achieve better things.
