Mathews pushes his point
So, what was with the push-ups?
Sri Lanka’s captain Dinesh Chandimal claimed he didn’t know why Angelo Mathews flexed his right bicep at the dressing room in a pointed gesture, then dropped down for some impromptu mid-pitch push-ups after raising his ninth test century against New Zealand.
It was certainly an intriguing change from the modest Black Caps bat raise usually seen at the Basin Reserve.
The former skipper has form on such matters, apparently stemming back to his axing from the one-day captaincy and then the squad itself for fitness issues and concern over his running between the wickets.
It led to some gestures towards the dressing room during the recent England test series when Mathews reached 50, loosely related to his bat doing the talking. That was reliably reported as a dig at coach Chandika Hathurusingha who was part of the initial decision to drop the skipper.
This one was the most pointed, late on day four as Mathews and Kusal Mendis each scored centuries and built a partnership which eventually totalled 274, unbroken, in the drawn first test in Wellington.
‘‘That was a really funny thing. I’ve never seen him do that kind of celebration after getting a century. First time from him. Normally he’s a quiet man. I was surprised,’’ a grinning Chandimal said.
Why did he do it?
‘‘I don’t know. Only Angelo knows that. Maybe this is his ninth hundred – so maybe it was nine push-ups.’’
Was it a fitness-related message?
‘‘I don’t have any idea. But he has done a lot of hard work before he came to New Zealand – a lot of fitness sessions. The other thing is that he bowled a few overs as well.
‘‘That’s a plus point. When he’s playing as a bowler also it gives us really good confidence. We can balance the side really well.’’
In New Zealand, 31-year-old Mathews scored an unbeaten 128 in the warmup game, then 83 and 120 not out in the first test. From 79 tests his batting average is a world-class 44.34, and will be the key wicket for the Black Caps in the second test in Christchurch starting on Boxing Day.
Chandimal was a happy man and deservedly so, after his team came in from a solitary warmup match against modest opposition in Napier and escaped with a draw after they were on the rack on day three, 13-3 in their second innings and trailing by 283.
‘‘I was padded up for more than seven hours. It was the first time I’d padded up for that long. It’s a tough thing padding up and watching from the dressing room,’’ he said.
‘‘At the same time I’m really happy with the way that both boys out there showed a lot of character. They fought hard when the situations came. It’s an overall team effort.’’