Sri Lanka vs England: Angelo Mathews demands a fitness test after the selectors threaten to axe him

Sacked Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has demanded a fitness test after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has allegedly said that he will be dropped from the side from the upcoming series against England. Mathews, who captained the team during the Asia Cup, was told to step down on September 23 after Sri Lanka became the first team to be knocked out of the tournament.

Angelo Mathews had led Sri Lanka between 2013 and 2017 and subsequently stepped down from the role. However, the coach Chandika Hathurusingha approached Mathews in early 2018 and requested him to reconsider taking up the captaincy once again. Despite hesitating, he eventually decided to lead Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup. Nevertheless, things did not go Sri Lanka’s way whatsoever, as they were humiliated by both Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the group stage.

Shortly after he was removed as the leader of the pack, Angelo Mathews wrote a letter to SLC where he stated that he was made to feel ‘like a scapegoat‘ and expressed his disappointment for being the only one to be blamed for the team’s dismal performance. He also said that he would step down as captain of Sri Lanka in limited overs cricket with immediate effect.

Had no intention of quitting

“I wish to put it on record that though Sri Lanka suffered these heavy defeats in the Asia Cup, which is shocking, to say the least, especially in the backdrop where we had a reasonable series against South Africa, I had no intention to quitting and running away from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being only a dozen games away,” Mathews also wrote.

On Tuesday, after the reports of Mathews being dropped for the limited-overs leg against England started to surface, the BBC Sinhala reporter Azzam Ameen revealed the news on his official Twitter handle which read, “Angelo Mathews has demanded a fitness test from selectors after he is been told he will be not picked for the upcoming England series over fitness concerns even before going through a fitness test – SLC sources.”

Sri Lanka are already under preparation for their six-week series against England at home which kicks off on October 10 with an ODI series. The series consists of five ODIs, 1 T20I and three Test matches. Dinesh Chandimal will assume captaincy duties for Sri Lanka after Mathews was given the sack.

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