In this decade, the year 2014 was a memorable one for Sri Lankan cricket. Among the highlights were the World T-20 win, the Asia Cup victory and several other bilateral triumphs. But the finest moment in 2014 as Sri Lanka won a Test series in England for the first time having won the ODI series earlier.
Having been appointed captain in all three formats, Angelo Mathews had a prolific 2014. Mathews scored 1317 runs in Tests and 1244 in ODIs that year. Only one other batsman scored more than him that year as Kumar Sangakkara accumulated 1493 runs in Tests and 1253 in ODIs to be the world’s highest run-getter.
Mathews averaged 87 in Tests and 62 in ODIs that year. He was only 28 and was expected to go on to become Sri Lanka’s leading batsman of all time, but it all went downhill from there on. Actually, he had a decent 2015 although it wasn’t prolific like 2014. But 2016 and 2017 were massive drawbacks. Until he scored that hundred in Delhi this month, Mathews had gone through 29 Test innings with only five half-centuries.
With the team’s premier batsman struggling, Sri Lanka hit new lows. Bowling has always been Sri Lanka’s weak link, but the batsmen have compensated for it over the years. Now with the batsmen too struggling, even games against weaker opponents like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have become a massive challenge. This year, Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in a Test match and squared the ODI series while Zimbabwe won the ODI series and nearly won the one-off Test match.
Leading into the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa with Thierry Henry in his prime, France were one of the favourites to win the title having been runners-up in the previous edition. Alas, following the high profile retirement of Zinadene Zidane and several others, Henry was a pale shadow of his former self as France made a first-round exit having failed to win a game.
Mathews perhaps suffered the same fate as Henry. Following the retirements of the ‘Big Three’ – T.M. Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, the onus on him was too much leading a young team and his performances dipped.
Into the bargain, he suffered a series of career-threatening injuries as well that saw him miss a significant portion of Sri Lanka’s competitions this year.
Sri Lanka are buoyed by the fact that he is able to bowl half of his quota at present. The fact that Mathews is able to bowl means, Sri Lanka are able to balance their side. The plan is for him to bowl two spells during the tri-nation series in Bangladesh next month and to build on from there. But more than his bowling, the team will desperately hope that he reproduces the magic of 2014 with his bat.
The return of Mathews’ former team-mate Tilan Samaraweera as Sri Lanka’s Batting Coach has done wonders. Samaraweera’s mantra for tackling spinners during the recent Test series against India has been inspirational as he urged the batsmen to play straight. As India whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0 in Sri Lanka, the spinners shared 35 wickets between them.
However, in the return series, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravidra Jadeja managed only 22 wickets in their 1-0 win. Sri Lanka were expected to suffer a worse fate in the return series against the world’s number one ranked team. It was a commendable effort by the tourists, especially in the last Test in Delhi, where Sri Lanka held on for a tense draw.
One salient feature during the two series against India was that during the away series, Sri Lanka’s premier batsmen like Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal opted for the sweep shot less whereas, at home, the sweep was their bread and butter.
There is an element of risk in playing the sweep shot and what Samaraweera has made Mathews and Chandimal realize is that they are better off playing straight, given the scoring options in their armoury against the spin bowlers. The message for the batsmen has been to use the sweep as the last option.
On this tour, Mathews has scored two hundreds. More importantly, he has batted with confidence although we are yet to see him batting with authority. When he does that, he can hurt many bowlers’ reputation.
Mathews will value the arrival of his mentor Chandika Hathurusingha as Sri Lanka’s Head Coach. They spent a lot of time together with Sri Lanka ‘A’ before Mathews graduated to the senior side.
Sri Lanka will play 15 Test matches next year and that includes home series against South Africa and England and an away tour to New Zealand. They will rely heavily on Mathews during those encounters. With Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne also scoring heavily this year – both batsmen completed 1000 runs in the calendar year – the future looks bright for Sri Lanka.
But Mathews is the key. Don’t be surprised if he leads the team in England during the 2019 World Cup.
