Mathews included for unofficial ODIs against England Lions

Angelo Mathews

Pramod Madushan 

•  Pramod Madushan returns from injury 

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has been recalled to play white ball cricket after a lapse of nearly two years when the national selectors included him in the Sri Lanka ‘A’ squad for the first two unofficial ODI matches against touring England Lions starting at the R. Premadasa Stadium tomorrow.

Thirty-five year-old Mathews fell out of favour with the national selectors after the tour of West Indies in March 2021, when they thought of pursuing a policy of grooming youngsters for the future. Players like Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne who had made up the ODI teams were all overlooked. 

But with the youth not delivering as expected, the selectors have resorted to bringing back Mathews against England Lions with the intention of including him in the ODI squad to New Zealand where Sri Lanka is scheduled to play three matches, and also keeping in mind the fifty-over World Cup in India in eight months.

In the recently concluded ODI series in India, Sri Lanka’s batting was found wanting when they failed to play out the 50 overs during their 3-0 loss, largely due to lack of experience in the middle. Mathews is likely to play in the first two unofficial ODIs before joining the Test squad in Radella for a training camp before the team departs to New Zealand.

Mathews is one of 14 Sri Lankan players to have appeared in over 200 ODIs for his country and he doesn’t have to prove anything as his record in this format speaks for itself (5835 runs, avg. 41.37 and 120 wickets, avg. 33.35).

Mathews doesn’t need to get match practice as he has played a couple of NSL 4-day games and got a hundred on Saturday. It’s not about form and it’s not about giving him experience unless the selectors are trying to see whether he can play in this tempo with the same intensity and is match fit because he hasn’t played ODI cricket for nearly two years.

In fact, Mathews adjusted himself very well in the Lanka Premier League T20 leading Colombo to the final against Jaffna with some useful contributions with the bat. The intensity in 20 overs is obviously more than in a 50-over game. If the selectors want to check Mathews’ intensity the LPL games are more than enough.

Opening batsman Avishka Fernando and right-arm seamer Pramod Madushan are the other national cricketers who come into the ODI squad from outside the ‘tests’.

Fernando is in cracking form having scored 150 for Colombo against Galle in the NSL 4-day match at Hambantota four days ago, while Madushan is returning having recovered from a hamstring injury.

Apart from the players who are currently in the national team the selectors apparently want to find out a few players they have in mind as probable replacements against failure or injuries etc. and with the 50-over World Cup coming up in a few months. 

The ODI squad includes quite a few young players who did not figure in the unofficial test series like Dushan Hemantha, Kavishka Anjula, and Suminda Lakshan.    

SRI LANKA ‘A’ SQUAD FOR 1st and 2nd UNOFFICIAL ODIs

Avishka Fernando, Lasith Croospulle, Nuwanidu Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Sadeera Samarawickrama, (captain/wk), Sahan Arachchige, Chamika Karunaratne, Praveen Jayawickrama, Pramod Madushan, Dushan Hemantha, Milan Ratnayake, Kavishka Anjula, Lahiru Udara, Nipun Dananjaya and Suminda Lakshan.