Selectors bite the bullet and call up Mathews
by Rex Clementine
Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was called up to India as a desperate measure to address the national cricket team’s batting woes in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. Along with Mathews, fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera was also called up and the pair were expected to reach north Indian city of Lucknow this morning.
The two players have been called up only as travelling reserves. While Chameera could be drafted into the World Cup squad immediately, with Matheesha Pathirana struggling with a shoulder niggle, Mathews could come in only if one of the batters got injured and ruled out.
Sri Lanka’s middle order has been awful not only in this campaign but for quite some time now and the selectors’ choices for the finisher’s role have been rather puzzling. They had been trying square pegs in round holes and the results have been devastating.
In Hyderabad, where they conceded the biggest run chase ever in the World Cup history to Pakistan, although the bowling received the flak, the middle batters didn’t cover themselves in glory either making only 61 runs in the last ten overs. Most teams tend to score in excess of 100 runs in the last ten overs.
Mathews along with half a dozen seniors were overlooked from white ball teams as the selectors launched their disastrous youth policy that saw the national cricket team playing three ICC Qualifying Tournaments inside three years.
In March this year, Mathews was recalled to the ODI side, but his comeback was short lived as he was axed again after three games in which he managed just 30 runs.
Many have questioned Mathews’ exclusion from the white ball format, especially ODI cricket, but those arguments have fallen on the selectors’ deaf ears. Many can question the selectors’ knowledge and that’s fair enough. But no one will question former captain Mahela Jayawardene’s cricket reasoning for he is one of the finest brains in the game. With MJ having so much clout in cricket it remains a mystery as to why he didn’t push for Mathews’ inclusion. The only conclusion that you can arrive at is that he had an axe to grind. Small minds at big places!
It was not only irrational to overlook Mathews’ experience and finishing ability for an event of the magnitude of World Cup but questioned the think tank’s credibility especially with the middle order carrying no momentum whatsoever for the sport’s showpiece event.
Mathews is Sri Lanka’s most experienced current ODI cricketer having featured in 221 games. He is Sri Lanka’s ninth all time highest scorer in ODIs with 5865 runs to his name. With an average of 41 and strike rate of 83, it was insane to leave out someone of his caliber.
Mathews’ bowling is very underrated. His 120 wickets in ODIs, is in fact higher than the ODI wickets Chairman of Selectors Pramodya Wickramasinghe took in his entire career – 109.
