Mathews to return for T20s?
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After Sri Lanka’s frail middle-order was exposed in Australia, national cricket selectors are mulling whether to recall Angelo Mathews to the T20 team just a few months after he was dropped over fitness and a modest scoring rate.
Mathews last played in August 2018 when he captained the side against South Africa at home but was overlooked for the short format during the last three series against New Zealand, Pakistan and Australia.
However, Sri Lanka’s dismal performances against Australia has pushed the selectors to rethink their strategy ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup there. Mathews, 32, is a veteran of 72 T20 matches and probably the best player at present across all formats.
“We need someone who can stabilise the innings and Mathews has that experience and temperament,” said Chief Selector Asantha de Mel, admitting to the blunder they made in dropping him for the Australian series.
“We had to take that call,” de Mel claimed.
“Sometimes, the players are in their own comfort zone and we need to push them a bit hard. What I heard now is that he has really worked hard on his fitness and is in best shape.”
Mathews’ dropping was irrational as he was a vital cog in the wheel for a substantial period of time and possesses wide experience in playing under different conditions. This would have served handy during the Australia series.
The Sri Lanka team–captained by the ageing Lasitha Malinga, whose record as skipper remains astonishingly poor with nine losses in ten matches this year–included five openers. They were Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Janith Perera, Avishka Fernando, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis, who the captain has shuffled around to make up the batting order. However, selectors now believe in choosing ‘horses for courses’–a strategy that has worked well for most teams around the world.
After Sri Lanka beat the equally disoriented Pakistan side 3-0 to earn a rare win in Pakistan last month, many expected the young guns to put up a commendable show against Australia. What transpired, however, was the same old story. The Sri Lanka meekly surrendered to the mighty Australians to lose by a 0-3 margin.
“It was good learning curve which gave us the opportunity to find out where we really stand and what we really need to do ahead of the T20 World Cup, the kind of batsmen we need to play the short ball well at varied speed and the kind of bowlers we need to restrict batsmen for a chaseble total,” de Mel said.
Sri Lanka, ranked seventh currently, must play a qualifying round to earn one of the two remaining spots in the World Cup–a major embarrassment to a team that has performed well in the format in the past.
“In a way it’s a blessing in disguise for us to play the qualifying round,” de Mel maintained.
“We will have time to acclimatize to the conditions before the tournament proper starts. So what we must now do is to get the right combination to play in Australian conditions and try and simulate those conditions at home for them to train.”
Sri Lanka’s next T20 international assignment will be against India in January 2020.