Angelo Davis Mathews, (
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
: அஞ்செலோ மத்தியூஸ்; born 2 June 1987) is a professional Sri Lankan
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er and a former captain in all formats. Even though he represented Sri Lanka in all three formats, Mathews currently plays
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
for Sri Lanka.
He was also a key member of the team that won the
2014 ICC World Twenty20
The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was the fifth ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament, that took place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It was played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet. Th ...
and was part of the team that made the finals of
2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...
,
2009 ICC World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
and
2012 ICC World Twenty20. An occasional bowler who can deliver swinging match-winning spells, Mathews and
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
holds the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in
ODI cricket
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cu ...
.
In July 2022, Mathews played in his
100th Test match for Sri Lanka.
Personal life
Mathews was born in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, to
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
father Tyronne Mathews and
Burgher
Burgher may refer to:
* Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn
** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain
** Grand Bu ...
mother Monica Mathews. Mathews is
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
and was educated at
St. Joseph's College, Colombo.
Mathews is married to his longtime partner, Heshanie Silva. The wedding reception was held on 18 July 2013 at Cinnamon Grand Hotel with the presence of former president
Mahinda Rajapakse
Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...
. They have one son and two daughters.
Domestic career
Mathews made his List A debut for Sri Lanka Under-23s against
New Zealand A at Police Park Ground, Colombo in September, 2005. He captained the Sri Lankan cricket team in the
2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup
The 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was played in Sri Lanka from 2 to 15 February 2006.
The final was played between Pakistan and India in Colombo, which Pakistan won by 38 runs, enabling them to become the first back-to-back champions of th ...
in Sri Lanka.
He later made his first-class debut for
Colombo Cricket Club
The Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. It is the oldest in the country, having been formed in 1863, and is headquartered at 31 Maitland Crescent, Colombo 7, close to the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket.
Hi ...
in November, 2006.
In the
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...
cricket, he played for
Delhi Daredevils
Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) are a franchise cricket team based out of Delhi in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is jointly owned by the GMR Group and the JSW Group. The team's home ground is Arun Jaitley Stadiu ...
in the
2017 Indian Premier League season. He is one of the most sought out players in the Premier League world, having been bought by the Pune Warriors for US$950,000.
[Angelo Mathews (Player Profile)](_blank)
Cricket Australia
In March 2018, he was named as the captain of Kandy's squad for the
2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.
The following month, he was also named as the captain for Kandy's squad for the
2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.
In August 2018, he was named as the captain of Kandy's squad the
2018 SLC T20 League
The 2018 SLC T20 League was a domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka, between 21 August and 2 September 2018. Four teams took part in the tournament: Colombo, Dambulla, Galle and Kandy. The Rangiri Dambulla International ...
.
In October 2020, he was drafted by the Colombo Kings for the
inaugural edition of the
Lanka Premier League
The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...
. In July 2022, he was signed by the
Colombo Stars
Colombo Stars, formerly known as Colombo Kings, is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League. Ashoka Pathirage, a Sri Lankan businessman, owns the team. The team was supposed to be ...
for the
third edition of the
Lanka Premier League
The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...
.
International career
Impressive start
Mathews began his international career in late 2008 with ambitions of becoming a genuine allrounder, but has since given primacy to his batting (to diminish his workload and avoid injuries), and effectively plays as a specialist batsman in the Test side. However, for the balance of the team, he still plays as a batting allrounder in the limited overs cricket. A more than useful strike rate of 84.06 has made him a damaging prospect in the final overs of the Sri Lankan innings.
[Angelo Mathews (Player Profile)](_blank)
ESPN Cricnifo
He made his international debut in a One Day International against
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
in November 2008 and made his Test debut against
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
at Galle in July, 2009.
![Angelo Mathews](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Angelo_Mathews.jpg)
Angelo Mathews made his Test debut in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
tour of Sri Lanka, 2009. The Test also marked the debuts of
Abdur Rauf,
Mohammad Amir
Mohammad Amir ( ur, ; born 13 April 1992) is a Pakistani cricketer and bowler for the Pakistan national cricket team. He is playing as a left-arm fast-medium bowler and uses his left hand when batting.
Amir made his first-class debut in N ...
and
Saeed Ajmal
Saeed Ajmal SI ( Punjabi, ; born 14 October 1977) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He is a right-arm off-spin bowler who bats right handed.
At domestic level in Pakistan he represented Fai ...
. He scored his maiden half-century in the third Test of the series, played at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo. His maiden ton came against Australia in September, 2011 in the same venue.
Mathews has an average record in Tests in countries such as
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, but up to now he has had limited opportunities to improve on it. His brilliant records at home and in countries like England and UAE make up for that. Two of his four centuries came in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
– against a high quality pace attack consisting of
James Anderson James Anderson may refer to:
Arts
*James Anderson (American actor) (1921–1969), American actor
*James Anderson (author) (1936–2007), British mystery writer
*James Anderson (English actor) (born 1980), British actor
* James Anderson (filmmaker) ...
and
Stuart Broad
Stuart may refer to:
Names
*Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile
* Stuart (automobile)
Places
Australia Generally
*Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory
Northe ...
– in the famous Sri Lanka tour of England and Ireland, 2014. He has also flourished with the added responsibility of captaincy, averaging 86.62 in 13 matches.
In February 2013, Mathews became Sri Lanka's youngest ever Test captain at 25, after having been groomed for the post for two years. He captained the Lankan team in its monumental Test series win in England (2014). His highest Test score (200 off 428 balls) came in the first match vs Zimbabwe 2020.
Captaincy in all formats (2013–2017)
![Angelo Mathews as captain at the toss with Nick Knight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Angelo_Mathews_as_captain_at_the_toss_with_Nick_Knight.JPG)
After
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...
stepped down as ODI captain following the
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...
, Mathews was widely tipped to be Sri Lanka's next limited overs captain. However, short tenures of
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan ( si, තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of th ...
and
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...
followed. After Sri Lanka's loss in the final of the
2012 ICC World Twenty20, the skipper Jayawardene stepped down as captain of the T20I side. Later that month, Mathews was appointed as the T20I captain with
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
as his deputy.
In February 2013 Mathews was eventually named as ODI and Test captain succeeding Jayawardene.
Mathews became an important member in Sri Lanka One Day team during the
Sri Lanka tour of Australia in 2010/11. At the first match, on 3 November 2010, Mathews scored a magnificent match winning 77* runs with a partnership with
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
, who also scored his only half-century. Sri Lanka were in trouble when he come into the crease, but finally won the match. In this match, Mathews along with Malinga, recorded the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI history by scoring 132 runs for the ninth wicket.
Mathews hit back-to-back centuries against England at Lord's and Headingley to seal Sri Lanka's first-ever Test series win in England. Under him, Sri Lanka also won the ODI series 3 – 2. The England tour was followed by a 2 – 0 win over Pakistan at home, where Mathews and his team ensured a winning send-off for
Mahela Jayawardene
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene ( si, දෙනගමගේ ප්රබෝත් මහේල ද සිල්වා ජයවර්ධන; born 27 May 1977) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who is the current consultant coach ...
from Tests.
On 16 November 2014, Mathews scored his first ODI century against
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
at
Ranchi
Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...
. He hit four boundaries and ten huge sixes, but finally ended up in the losing side by century made by Indian skipper
Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed Batting (cricket), batte ...
. Under the captaincy of Mathews, however, lost all the matches in 5 ODI series against India in 2014. This is the largest loss by Sri Lanka in a bilateral series.
Year 2014 was the limelight of Mathew's captaincy, where Sri Lanka won many bilateral ODI series and also the
2014 Asia Cup. That year, he became the most successful ODI captain with 20 wins out of 32 matches and 62.50% of winning percentage.
For his performances in 2014, he was named as captain of the World Test XI by ICC. He was also named in the Cricbuzz XI of the year.
On 11 March 2015, during the last pool A match in
2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...
, against
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, Mathews scored the fastest fifty by a Sri Lankan in World Cups, and third fastest ODI fifty by a Sri Lankan after
Sanath Jayasuriya
Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...
and
Kusal Perera
Mathurage Don Kusal Janith Perera ( si, කුසල් පෙරේරා) (born 17 August 1990), more commonly known as Kusal Perera, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former limited overs Captain of Sri Lanka national cricket team. ...
. His fifty came from just 20 balls, where it includes 5 sixes and 1 four.
Mathews was able to bring the team to quarter finals of the World Cup 2015 under his captaincy, where they lost the quarter final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. This defeat was Sri Lanka's first lost in World Cups after 2003, without reaching for the semi finals.
![Angelo Mathews clipping a delivery off his legs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Angelo_Mathews_clipping_a_delivery_off_his_legs.JPG)
Mathews became the fourth Sri Lankan all-rounder to take 100 ODI wickets with more than 3000 ODI runs after
Sanath Jayasuriya
Deshabandu Sanath Teran Jayasuriya ( si, සනත් ජයසූරිය, ta, சனத் ஜெயசூர்யா; born 30 June 1969), is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and a captain. He is credited for having revolutionized one-day in ...
,
Aravinda de Silva
Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva ( si, අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and captain, who has also played in English county cricket. de Silva helped Sri Lanka to win the ...
, and
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan ( si, තිලකරත්න මුදියන්සේලාගේ ඩිල්ෂාන්; born 14 October 1976), commonly known as TM Dilshan () is a former Sri Lankan cricketer and former captain of th ...
. He took his 100th ODI wicket by lbw of
Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hafeez ( Punjabi and ur, ; born 17 October 1980) is a former Pakistani international cricketer. Hafeez was a versatile batsman who could bat anywhere in the top 6 and formed part of the bowling attack. He played as a spin bowling a ...
on 26 July 2015.
On 8 March 2016, Mathews was appointed as the T20I captain as well, due to continuous injuries of
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
. On 17 August 2016, under Mathews' captaincy, Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia, which was at the Number 1 in Test rankings. This was the second time that Sri Lanka managed to Whitewash a major Test side in their history. Before that, West Indies who were led by Brian Lara were white washed in a three test series in 2001, and apart from that only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have been whitewashed.
In July 2017, Sri Lanka lost a five-match home ODI series 3–2
against Zimbabwe. Matthews said the defeat was "one of the lowest points in my career"
and he stepped down as captain of the team in all three formats the following day.
Post captaincy (2017)
On 4 December 2017
against India, Mathews scored his eighth test century. His century came during a tough time for Sri Lanka's innings, where he built the innings slowly with captain
Dinesh Chandimal
Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal ( si, ලොකුගේ දිනේෂ් චන්දිමාල්; born 18 November 1989) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who captained the Sri Lanka national cricket team. A handy and agile right-handed ba ...
. Finally Sri Lanka was able to drawn the match.
Mathews scored his second ODI hundred on 12 December 2017 at Mohali during the second ODI
against India. However his century was in vain due to the third double hundred of
Rohit Sharma
Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mu ...
in the earlier innings and Sri Lanka was on a chase of mammoth total of 392. With Mathews unbeaten century however, Sri Lanka crossed 250 after 10 ODI matches and finally lost the match by 141 runs.
During the second T20I against India, Mathews pulled up hamstring strain as he ran in to deliver the third ball of his third over. He left the field and did not came to bat as well. With medical treatments and news arrived, he will be out of cricket for at least two weeks.
Captaincy second term (2018)
On 9 January 2018, Mathews has been reappointed as the captain for Sri Lanka in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the second time less than six months after he resigned from the position. He was stepped down from captaincy at the end of Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka in 2017 after ODI loss. However, with many defeats in all formats in 2017, new coach
Chandika Hathurusinghe
Upul Chandika Hathurusingha ( si, උපුල් චන්දික හතුරුසිංහ; born 13 September 1968) is a former cricketer. He was also the former head coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Hathurusingha also work ...
and new selection committee handed over limited over captaincy for Mathews for the second time.
Things were not good for his captaincy, where Sri Lanka lost the first match for Zimbabwe in the
Bangladesh tri-series. During the match he suffered a knee injury and ruled out from the rest of the ODI series. Dinesh Chandimal captained the side and won the series as well. Initial news revealed that, Mathews will recover for the Test series against Bangladesh, but he did not recovered and hence dropped from the Test squad. He also missed T20I series, where Chandimal appointed as the T20I captain. This Bangladesh tour was the third-consecutive overseas tour Mathews withdrew from with a hamstring injury, having also done so in 2017 in South Africa and India. In 2016, he had missed a full tour of Zimbabwe with "multiple leg injuries" as well.
In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by
Sri Lanka Cricket
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...
ahead of the 2018–19 season.
Mathews was sacked as the captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team in September, 2018 after a disastrous
2018 Asia Cup campaign where Sri Lanka crashed out of tournament after losing both their group matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Test captain Dinesh Chandimal was named as the replacement for Mathews to captain the limited overs teams.
As anchor man
During the first Test
against New Zealand in late 2018, Mathews scored his ninth Test century. Mathews along with Kusal Mendis batted all over fourth day, which was the fifth time that Sri Lankan pair had done that in Test history. On fifth day, they put on an unbeaten double century partnership which overall lasts for 115 wicketless overs for New Zealanders. With rain interrupted, the match was ended in a draw. The partnership of 246, was also Sri Lanka's highest for any wicket against New Zealand and also Sri Lanka's highest in the second innings of a Test. It was the first time a Sri Lankan pair has added 200-plus runs in the second innings of a Test outside Asia.
In the second Test, Mathews injured with a hamstring trouble while he was batting with Chandimal. He was immediately sent for the medical scans and did not come to bat after tea. Sri Lanka finally lost the match and series 1–0. He was ruled out of the ODI tour and upcoming Australian tour as well.
In April 2019, he was named in
Sri Lanka's squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
. After consecutive failures of 0,0, 9 with the bat in World Cup, Mathews regained his form during the pool match against England. He scored unbeaten 85 runs to post a total of 232. With the bowling performance by veteran Malinga, Sri Lanka won the match by 20 runs. During the match, Mathews scored his 12,000th international run for Sri Lanka.
During the match against West Indies on 1 July 2019, Mathews surprisingly requested to bowl the 48th over. He picked up the wicket of
Nicolas Pooran who was on 118, and was all set to take the West Indies to victory. Mathews, had not bowled for 8 months, even in the nets. On 6 July 2019 against India, Mathews scored his third century, where all his three centuries now came against India. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by 7 wickets.
Mathews was included to the T20I series against India in January 2020. It was his first T20I appearance after 16 months. He played in the third T20I on 10 January 2020 and started to ball as well. However, he finished with expensive figures of 38 runs in three overs without a wicket. With the bat, he scored 31 runs and Sri Lanka eventually lost the match and the series.
On 22 January 2020, during the first test
against Zimbabwe, Mathews scored his maiden double hundred. He scored unbeaten 200 runs in 465 balls within 600 minutes in the middle. His double hundred is recorded as the first double hundred scored by a Sri Lanka in five years after Sangakkara's double in 2015. Finally Sri Lanka won the match by 10 wickets and Mathews won the man of the match award. Sri Lanka was able to draw the second Test due to second innings unbeaten century by
Kusal Mendis
Balapuwaduge Kusal Gimhan Mendis, generally known as Kusal Mendis is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays as a top-order batter in all forms of the game. He only played sixteen first-class matches before playing for the national side. ...
and sealed the series 1–0. Mathews won the player of the series award becoming highest run scorer in the series. Mathews scored 277 runs with a double hundred and one fifty at an average 138.50.
During third ODI
against West Indies, Mathews delivered match winning bowling spell. He bowled all 10 overs in the match since way back in July 2015 due to the injury of premier pacer
Nuwan Pradeep
Aththachchi Nuwan Pradeep Roshan Fernando ( si, නුවන් ප්රදීප්; born 19 October 1986), commonly known as Nuwan Pradeep, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer. Despite being a national cricketer, he had never actually p ...
. He took 4 for 59 where he bowled the penultimate over to win the match for Sri Lanka by 6 runs. He won man of the match award for match winning bowling performance.
First test match of
England tour of Sri Lanka 2021, Mathews scored his 6000 test runs. In the second innings he scored his 36th test half century. He scored 71 runs facing 219 balls and 344 minutes on the crease just hitting four boundaries. His patient innings helped to take a lead to Sri Lanka but England won the match by 7 wickets.
Second test match of
England tour of Sri Lanka 2021, Mathews scored his 11th test century. It was Mathews 1st test ton on home soil since 2015 and his first test ton at
Gall International Cricket Stadium.He scored 110 runs hitting 11 boundaries to put a big total to the team in First innings. He is the highest run scorer for Sri Lanka in this series. But England won the match by 6 wickets and also won the series.
Post Captaincy 2021
On 27 February 2021, Mathews was appointed as Sri Lanka's stand-in captain for the
T20I series in the West Indies as the appointed captain
Dasun Shanaka
Madagamagamage Dasun Shanaka (born 9 September 1991) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and current limited overs captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team. He generally plays as an all-rounder and is a right handed batter and right-arm medium ...
, delayed in obtaining a US transit visa and travel with the team at the time. Under Mathews captaincy, Sri Lanka managed to win only the second T20I, where West Indies won the series 2–1. In batting, he had a poor outing, where he scored 5, 13 and 11 in three matches. Meanwhile, after the first ODI in the series, he left the tour of West Indies immediately for personal reasons citing his daughter's critical health condition.
On 15 May 2022, during the first test match
against Bangladesh, Mathews scored his 12th test century. He dismissed for 199 runs while reaching to his double century. Due to his innings match ended in a draw and Mathews later won player of the match award for his performance. He continued his good form into next match too scoring his 13th test century. He put 199 run partnership with
Dinesh Chandimal
Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal ( si, ලොකුගේ දිනේෂ් චන්දිමාල්; born 18 November 1989) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who captained the Sri Lanka national cricket team. A handy and agile right-handed ba ...
and his unbeaten 145* helped put Sri Lanka into strong position. Finally Sri Lanka won the match by 10 wickets and Mathews won player of the series award for his consistent performance. He was highest run scorer in the series scoring 344 runs including two centuries. He was later voted as the ICC Men's Player of the Month for May 2022, becoming the first Sri Lankan to achieve the feat.
In the
Australian Test series in July 2022, Sri Lanka suffered a huge defeat, where the match ended in three days. During the match, Mathews contracted COVID-19 and ruled out of the Test. However, on 9 July 2022, he scored 52 runs in the first innings of the second Test against Australia. Later Sri Lanka posted a total of 554 courtesy of Chandimal's double hundred. Finally Sri Lanka won the match by an innings and 39 runs, marking Sri Lanka's first-ever innings victory in Test cricket against Australia.
In July 2022, in the second match
against Pakistan, Matthews played in his
100th Test.
Criticism
With three legends (Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan) retiring from international cricket, the team had a rough time in many bilateral series in all formats. They also lost Asia Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy very cheaply and moved down to 8 and 7 places in rankings as well. With all these, Bangladesh toured Sri Lanka and drawn all formats, whereas Zimbabwe also recorded their first series win against Sri Lanka and the captaincy of Mathews was criticized for many reasons for their losses. Though he injured several times in his captaincy career, and replaced by
Upul Tharanga
Warushavithana Upul Tharanga (born 2 February 1985), commonly known as Upul Tharanga ( si, උපුල් තරංග), is a former professional Sri Lankan cricketer, and a former limited over captain who played for all formats of the game. He ...
in many winning notes, reporters suggested that Mathews will not captain until
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
.
Mathews was highly criticized for his running between the wickets. Sri Lanka coach
Chandika Hathurusinghe
Upul Chandika Hathurusingha ( si, උපුල් චන්දික හතුරුසිංහ; born 13 September 1968) is a former cricketer. He was also the former head coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. Hathurusingha also work ...
stated that Mathews has involved for more than 64 run outs in past two years, more than the second worst. Out of those 64, about 45 times, the batsman at the other end got out, where Hathurusinghe suggested that it is a world record. Hathurusingha and the selectors contended that Mathews lacked the "cricket fitness" to field for 50 overs, then run between the wickets effectively. Under Mathews captaincy, Sri Lanka exit early from
2018 Asia Cup, where he was involved for three more run outs in the same fashion. Therefore, immediately after the series, he was removed from the limited over captaincy and also from the limited over squad for England home series.
Retirement
On 7 July 2021, Mathews announced that he is considering to retire from across all formats of international cricket as he had not signed the tour contract with SLC for the
limited overs series against India and he complained of the unethical treatment by the management regarding the senior players in the team. His decision is mainly due to the pay dispute with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and also due to the intentions of SLC to axe several senior players from the national team in the limited overs matches to nurture and give opportunities to the youngsters with the 2023 World Cup on focus.
Beyond cricket
In July 2021, he announced that he was interested in taking a major responsibility to find donors for a social welfare project titled "Little Hearts" which is also a national fundraising project being initiated in order to build a Cardiac and Critical Care Complex at the
Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children which is situated in Colombo. He was inspired to involve with Little Hearts fundraiser after acknowledging about the way the doctors and nurses had treated his daughter who was admitted at LRH hospital for sickness.
Records and statistics
* Highest ninth wicket partnership – 132 by Angelo Mathews (77) and
Lasith Malinga
Separamadu Lasith Malinga ( si, සෙපරමාදු ලසිත් මාලිංග; born 28 August 1983), nicknamed "Slinga Malinga", is a Sri Lankan former cricketer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest limited overs bowlers ...
(56) against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in November 2010.
* Most wins as a captain in ODI on the year 2014 (won 20 & lost 12 out of 32 matches, winning percentage-62.50)
*Fifth Sri Lankan cricketer to reach 6000 Test Runs
Awards
*2015
Wisden Cricketer of the Year
The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...
* Sri Lanka Cricket Cricketer of the Year 2015
* ICC Men's Player of the Month for May 2022.
References
External links
*
Angelo Mathews (Player Profile)Wisden India
Official Site
Angelo MathewsIsland Cricket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Angelo
1987 births
Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo
Basnahira cricketers
Basnahira North cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Colts Cricket Club cricketers
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup
Delhi Capitals cricketers
Kolkata Knight Riders cricketers
Living people
Pune Warriors India cricketers
Nagenahira Nagas cricketers
Sri Lankan cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lankan Roman Catholics
Lahore Qalandars cricketers
Colombo Stars cricketers
Wisden Cricketers of the Year