NASSER HUSSAIN
Sri Lanka’s Mathews enjoys himself against familiar foes
It helps any cricketer to play an opponent who you’ve enjoyed success against in the past — so I’m sure Angelo Mathews would have chosen England.
When you have done well against a nation, they respect you and you tend to feel good vibes.
His test batting average of 50 against England is up on his overall career return and it is a similar pattern in 50-over and twenty20 cricket, too.
Recall his brilliant 160 in the famous test win at Headingley seven years ago, or that unbeaten 85 in the shock victory over Eoin Morgan’s team on the same ground at the 2019 World Cup. Lots of positive memories.
In this match, he has provided the application Sri Lanka have lacked in recent times. He’s shown the discipline their great cricketers like Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva possessed.
Mathews’ body never allowed him to become the all-rounder he wanted to be and the responsibility of captaining Sri Lanka hung heavy, but concentrating on his batting and filling in with the ball here and there seems to suit him.
that wasn’t a milked hundred by any stretch of the imagination. As he acknowledged himself, England bowled well.
Jimmy Anderson and Mark Wood were exceptional in very different ways. Anderson displayed a high level of skill and Wood a great amount of heart and passion.
In terms of character shown, I would go as far as saying that the eight-over spell from Wood late in the day was as good as I’ve seen from an England bowler away from home. there was nothing in the pitch and only a little bit of reverse swing to play with.
After recovering from the hamstring problem that kept him out of the tour of South Africa, Mathews has been part of a team who lost the first test, then found themselves two wickets down for single figures on an absolute belter after winning the toss.
things could easily have gone pear- shaped for Sri Lanka and, make no mistake, if they had been bowled out for anything less than 250 it was game over.
But one thing about Mathews is that he reads situations incredibly well. He’s a pretty smart cricketer.
In fact, when he wasn’t smart on the first day of the series, Sri Lanka folded. Here, alongside fellow senior player Dinesh Chandimal, his response was just right.
they both soaked up pressure, but didn’t just block. When the opportunity was there to hit the spinner over the top, they took it and that forced Joe Root to push his field back.
In that first innings of 135 in the seven-wicket defeat by England last week, this pair were as guilty as any for the demise.
Chandimal was gifted a life at cover and then hit the ball to exactly the same spot soon afterwards. two balls later, Mathews nicked off. Putting things right showed great mental strength.
the Sri Lanka side I played against had batsmen blessed not only with the talent but brains, too. When they got starts, they went big and scored hundreds.
that’s what they’re lacking now. they’re not missing out on talent with the bat — I’m not so sure the same could be said with the ball — but they’re not always smart. So it was nice to see Mathews batting time, seeing off spells from Anderson and Wood, and still there at the close.
What his young team-mates must learn is that it is not about playing the shot of the day — it’s about building an innings and getting a score that is above par, which on a typically flat test match pitch like this is 350.
there was very little in the wicket for England’s two spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach in this first innings, so theirs was a holding role to make sure Sri Lanka didn’t get away from England.
they managed to make sure that didn’t happen on the first day.
England’s bowlers won’t have felt like it when they were going to bed last night or getting up feeling sore and stiff this morning, but it was the sort of day to aid this team’s learning curve, with the aim of trying to take 20 wickets in India — or in Australia with a Kookaburra ball.
You find out a lot about a team on such days.
England’s body language was good and you could tell they were proud of the way they stuck to their task.