Arjuna Ranatunga claims Angelo Matthews was made the fall guy for Sri Lankan failures

After months of taking jibes at Sri Lankan Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala, former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga claimed that Angelo Matthews was made the scapegoat for the Sri Lankan failures off late. Ranatunga believes Matthews is one of the best captains ever produced after Ranjan Madugalle and the Board should not have thrown in the towel when he decided to quit captaincy.

Matthews stepped down from captaincy post-Sri Lanka’s disastrous series against Zimbabwe, where they lost the ODI series against the underdogs by a margin of 3-2. Upul Tharanga took over the captaincy in the ODIs and Dinesh Chandimal was appointed as the Test captain yet again, after removing him from captaincy previously.

“Mathews is the best captain I have seen after Ranjan Madugalle. When he said that he wanted to quit, SLC should have told him to hang in there without throwing the towel in. If I had any say, I would have told him that this is not the time to quit,” commented Arjuna Ranatunga according to Cricbuzz.

“When Sri Lanka whitewashed No 1 ranked Australia in the Test series last year, there were lot of people to take credit, but sadly when he lost he was made the scapegoat and all the blame was on him. Mathews was a very positive captain, but due to constant changes and lots of chopping and changing he started becoming negative because he lost the confidence,” added Ranatunga while blaming the administration for the making Matthews the scapegoat.

Matthews being able to bowl- Big Plus point

Chairman of Selectors Sanath Jayasuriya felt that it was a big relief to see the all-rounder ready to bowl his entire quota of overs. “It’s a big relief that Angelo will be able to bowl for us again. We have to manage him carefully and he is at the moment not ready to bowl full quota of 10 overs, but he will certainly be able to bowl 5-6 overs. That’s a big plus point for us as it helps us to balance the side,” quoted Sanath Jayasuriya