Mathews ruled out of SA tour with hamstring injury

A familiar sight – Angelo Mathews pulls up with a hamstring injury 

• No replacements made as SL continue with squad of 21

Sri Lanka’s (SL) most experienced batsman Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the upcoming two-Test tour of South Africa (SA) with a hamstring injury.

Mathews sustained the injury during the My11Circle Lanka Premier League semi-final while captaining the Colombo Kings against the Galle Gladiators at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Mathews, who has resumed bowling in the white ball format after recovering from a string of injuries, pulled up and clutched his right hamstring after bowling just one ball of his fourth and final over.

The former SL Captain played in all nine matches for the Colombo Kings in the tournament and bowled 17.1 overs before he was laid low by the injury, which is not unfamiliar to him as he has a history of hamstring and calf injuries that has troubled him throughout his career.

Chairman of Cricket Selectors and Manager of the SL team Ashantha de Mel said: “Mathews is out with a hamstring injury and the physios say that it will take about four weeks for him to recover. I spoke to the coach (Mickey Arthur) and he feels that there is no necessity to have a replacement for Angelo as we have two spare batsmen in the squad and that he can manage with 21 players for the two Tests.”

De Mel said that he will have to speak with the captain Dimuth Karunaratne as well with regard to the size of the squad but felt that they can manage with 21 players as they have players like Dasun Shanaka and Lahiru Thirimanne to replace Mathews.

“In the previous game also, I had a tightening but this time it doesn’t look very bad, but very unlikely for South Africa,” said Mathews.

“I did an MRI scan today in the evening, yet to get the report but there is a strain. Hopefully, for England I should be okay; that’s what the phyisos told me. I am waiting confirmation from the report,” he said.

Mathews said he couldn’t put a finger on how he got the hamstring injury and said it could be by playing continuously in the ongoing LPL without a break.

“Last year or so I haven’t had any injuries in terms of the legs. In the West Indies series, I bowled and in one ODI the full quota of 10 overs. I kept bowling right throughout. I can’t really say, I don’t know the exact reason,” said Mathews.

“In a short span of time we played a lot of LPL games, and I didn’t get the opportunity to even rest for one game because we played a couple of double headers. Playing a T20 is quite demanding, but we are happy that we played some cricket after being without any cricket for eight months. Thankfully, this is not a big injury. It maybe maximum a few weeks, not going to be longer hopefully. I will get a confirmation from the physios once we get the report,” said Mathews.

Mathews also missed SL’s last tour to SA in January 2019 due to a hamstring injury.

(ST)