Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was delighted with his century against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, saying his scores of 91 and 157 were enough to cement his place in the side, despite already being skipper.
The first Test ended in a draw thanks to Mathews’ effort with the bat, after Pakistan were on track to a win before Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Prasanna Jayawardene made 480 for five declared.
Pakistan then needed 302 runs on the final day, in just two sessions, and they did not attempt to score the runs. Mathews came in when the side was in trouble, and he was pleased to be part of a rescue effort.
Mathews said of his career-best score: “I am really happy and hope I have justified my place in the team. We had six batters in the dressing room and we had to do the job.
“We knew we needed to put our hands up and try to get a big one. I knew I can’t afford to lose my wicket because we only had Prasanna as the other batter.
“The way the Pakistanis were bowling, they were pretty sharp … we wanted to bat through, not to waste time, score some runs and put them under pressure.
“We had to make sure that we don’t get to a losing position, we needed to get into a strong position to bowl them out.
“We knew the wicket wasn’t doing that much so we needed some time to get them out as well, but we thought bat a few overs, get the 300-run mark, because in a couple of sessions it’s not easy to score that 300.”
