Reports: Angelo Mathews sidelined from England limited-overs series

Sri Lanka are scheduled to host England for an ODI, T20I and Test series, starting Wednesday, October 10. Prior to that, the Three Lions are scheduled to play a couple of warm-up fixtures in order to get themselves accustomed to the conditions and the pitches. While the visitors have already announced their ODI and Test squad, the home team is yet to put forth their set of players.

In the meantime, it has been learned that the Lankan national selectors have decided to drop Angelo Mathews, the 31-year-old right-handed batsman, from the ODI and the T20I series. Earlier, the experienced campaigner was sacked as the captain of the national team after his team couldn’t perform to expectations in the ongoing Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).   

Tumultuous times for Mathews

Lanka were placed in Group A along with Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In the first match, Mushfiqur Rahim’s masterful knock ensured that Lanka lose by a mammoth 136 runs. Mathews’ men couldn’t step up in the second match against Afghanistan as well and slumped to a 91-run defeat. Subsequently, they crashed out and were unable to qualify for the Super 4 of the multi-nation event.

After getting sacked from his post, Mathews lashed out at the selectors saying that he has been made the scapegoat of Sri Lanka’s dismal performance in the 50-overs tournament. Furthermore, in a letter, he mentioned that he felt betrayed and that the selectors’ decision has forced him to contemplate hanging his boots from international cricket.

Mathews was the leading run-scorer in Sri Lanka’s bilateral ODI series against South Africa having scored 235 runs from five matches at an average of 78.33. During the series, he also scored a match-winning 97 in the final encounter in Colombo. The seasoned campaigner also averages approximately 59 in the One Day format in the last couple of years.

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