Defying all the odds, Sri Lanka managed to draw the test in Wellington thanks to a brilliant double century partnership between Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis.
Free Hit Contributor – Chathura Kumarasinghe
The highlight for me was the post century performance by Mathews, who flexed his biceps after doing a pushup celebration. It has been a roller coaster ride for the former Test captain who was in and out of the team due to various reasons. Here’s a little look back at Mathews’s career so far…
It was his day. It was his moment. Sri Lanka were 107-8 in Melbourne. Angelo was at one end with only Malinga and Murali yet to bat. Then, the world witnessed one of the most inspiring fightbacks on a cricket field. Mathews pulled, Mathews lofted, Mathews marshalled mischievous Malinga to a maiden fifty, shepherded sloppy Sri Lanka to a famous victory. It was just magical. MAGICAL MATHEWS…
If you are really good, you have to have a weakness to balance things out. Even Superman had one. Mathews’s kryptonite was his cursed hamstring and those long string of injuries. He couldn’t play the 2011 World Cup final. Then injuries resurfaced time to time to the frustration of Sri Lankan fans. They whispered under their breaths every time he was at the crease, “please don’t dive while you run” “please don’t fall while you field” “please don’t stand for a long time while you live”…… We saw him fewer times on the field in 2016-2017 as his limbs were malfunctioning. MALFUNCTIONING MATHEWS…
The team needs 17 to win. Your 21-year-old partner needs 13 for his 2nd hundred. What happened next could have turned out to be either foolish or heroic depending on the outcome at the end of the day. But to handle that pressure and take those risks you must have enormous self confidence in you. Mathews started to play dot balls in the last few overs of the innings like he was going to save a test match. The 47th over was a maiden. We, the spectators could feel the heat in Captain Dilshan’s face through the television screen. Dinesh Chandimal finally took Sri Lanka over the line. He had something special at the end of the day, a century at Lord’s thanks to his good pal’s munificence. MUNIFICENT MATHEWS…
Read More: I’ve been made a scapegoat in the Asia Cup saga – Angelo Mathews
Then came the majestic 2014: last year where Sri Lanka Cricket stood tall as a giant and tasted victory in all forms of the game before going into a seemingly never-ending slump. Mathews had his summer of batting in 2014. He was piling up runs all the way through winter, spring, summer & autumn. The pinnacle of his batting masterclass came in England. Mathews scored a century at Lord’s in the 1st inning and an invaluable block of 90 balls to save the test match from the jaws of defeat. In the next match, trailing by more than 100 runs in the 1st innings Sri Lanka went on to win a famous test match at Headingley thanks to a marvelous 160 by Mathews. He finished the year as the second highest runs scorer in 2014 racking up 1317 test runs at 83.7 and 1244 ODI runs at 62.20. He was majestic that year. MAJESTIC MATHEWS…
Under Mathews’ leadership, the Island nation had many ups and downs. They were ecstatic after 2014 Asia Cup, winning all five, were helpless in India losing all five. Angelo had an unforgettable England tour, smashing the Poms in the tests & ODIs, a forgettable home series getting smashed by the Proteas in tests & ODIs. The sweetest victory for me under Angelo’s captaincy would be the thrashing of highest ranked Australia 3-0. The hardest pill to swallow (at least for me for some reason) was Pakistan’s chase in that fourth innings in Sharjah. It wasn’t all success or all “2017” (a synonym for disaster). But Sri Lanka had a good captain who could lead them to the World Cup knockouts (That is all Sri Lanka had after 1996). With all that experience Mathews had to lead a young Sri Lankan team through a rough era. MATURED MATHEWS…
Then came the catastrophic 2017: the darkest hour. They couldn’t bat for 50 overs, forgot how to take wickets & the fielding was… well, they managed to touch the ball sometimes. Despite all the drama off the field in SLC HQ, Mathews’s captaincy came under the microscope. An embarrassing Zimbabwe series was the final nail in the coffin. “Not captaincy material…”: Armchair critics were all over him. “He plays only for money not for the team”, Everybody had something to throw at him. “Win or lose, at the end of the day he is getting his cut, match fixing??”. He just had to go. “MONEY-MINDED MATHEWS…”
The management of Sri Lanka Cricket then asked Angelo to take the responsibility of being captain again because they had tried everything but to no avail. So, Angelo became the captain again, lost again, left again. This time management showed him the finger and delivered the ultimate triple blow: asked him to step down, axed from squad, called him fat (indirectly). So, Angelo knew he had to set a new alarm, reminding him to post little montages of him squatting and lunging at the gym on social media. MIS-TREATED MATHEWS…
After that century in Wellington, we have a feeling that our old warrior from 2014 is back again. Every true Sri Lankan cricket fan wishes to see Mathews make his comeback as a true all-rounder to make Sri Lanka Cricket great again. I wouldn’t mind adding few extra paragraphs to this as: “MIGHTY MATHEWS” after he surpasses Jacques Kallis to be known as the greatest all rounder game has ever seen, “MACHINE-LIKE MATHEWS” after he guides the nation to a World Cup triumph becoming Man-of-the-Tournament (too much…??), and when he retires: “MAN, MYTH, MATHEWS”
