The Team will go all out for a historic clean sweep
Aussies are no pushovers; we played better cricket than them – MathewsAs history beckons Sri Lanka for a 3-nil Test series clean sweep of Australia, Sri Lankan Skipper Angelo Mathews, addressing the Media on the eve of Saturday’s final Test at the SSC, the team did step up the accelerator sounding that the course of the match would revolve around spin.
“Although the SSC has been traditionally known to favour batsmen, in recent times it has proved to be spin friendly in a departure from the past,” he announced.
Mathews was spot on the task ahead echoing none other than Sri Lanka’s 1996 world cup hero Aravinda De Silva’s sentiments that this was a ‘now or never’ opportunity for Sri Lanka.
“As Aravinda De Silva has stressed, we would never get such an opportunity easily again, and certainly I and the team is aware of how vital winning the third test is for us,” was how Mathews responded to media men on the final thrust.
The skipper’s focus therein was on the team preparations. While fast bowler Suranga Lakmal would be back from injury with his replacement in the second test Vishwa Fernando making way, Mathews was overly confident that with that exception, he would pin his faith on the winning formula. He was not too worried about the openers’ failures in the two tests given their track record in the past. While he observed that there were back of the mind replacements in case of failure in the future, Mathews felt that Kaushal Silva had fared well in England winning the ‘Man of the Series’ award. Although Dimuth Karunaratne had failed in England, he had fared quite well in New Zealand.
“Both Silva and Karunaratne have fared reasonably well in the past which we cannot overlook – Silva in England and Karunaratne in New Zealand. We believe we need to pin our faith in them. Particularly having won the series, those who were on a low key should be given another opportunity to come good.
Mathews did show a penchant for the SSC track stating that ‘my first Test hundred came at the SSC against the Aussies.’ He would not say that Australia had played bad cricket. It was simply that ‘we played the better cricket.’
“Mind you, we prepared very hard for this series. We did all the homework which is why we won,” the Sri Lanka skipper reasoned.
He reiterated that his charges had similarly been keyed up for the crucial third test where history beckoned Sri Lanka.
“We have not relaxed one bit. We have worked relentlessly to do the job in tomorrow’s third test. We are aware how important winning this match is to Sri Lanka,” he stressed.
Mathews’ optimism going into the match is mainly based on what he called his ‘trump card’, veteran spinner Rangana Herath.
“More than anyone else in the spin department, my faith is immense in Herath for his impeccable ability to pick wickets,” rounded of the captain.
By Srian Obeyesekere
-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-
