MATHEWS PRAISES BOWLERS FOLLOWING NARROW DEFEAT
We could have toughened up a little bit more. I thought we if could have had about 30, 40 more runs, things could have been different Yeah, except for a couple of guys, everyone couldn’t really do with the bat, to be honest. I thought I kind of misread the wicket. But, yeah, I thought it might get slower and slower as the game progresses, but it kind of dried up a little bit and was a bit easier, slightly easier than the first session
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews did not agree that his team’s batting was a failure in Sunday’s Group A Champions Trophy game against New Zealand and instead chose to heap praises on his bowling attack that did brilliantly well under tremendous pressure, defending a moderate total of 138.
“But I thought we played some really good cricket today” said Mathews
“Not really (disappointed with the shots played)! We could have toughened up a little bit more. I thought we if could have had about 30, 40 more runs, things could have been different. But I thought the bowlers were absolutely brilliant, backed up by fielding,” he added.
Mathews felt bitter about a rejected strong appeal in Lasith Malinga’s penultimate over for an lbw against New Zealand’s low order batsman Tim Southee who finally helped his side to scrape through to victory by just one wicket.
Umpire Rod Tucker turned down the appeal though TV replays later showed the ball to be hitting the stumps and it did not appear to be a difficult one to have got right. Had this crucial appeal been upheld it would have guided Sri Lanka to a miraculous victory.
“Obviously that decision was very crucial and it was pretty obvi- ous that it was out. You know, the luck streams both ways and it’s just one of those days that we didn’t have the decision come our way. But it changed the whole finale of the game. It would have been all over,” declared Mathews. Mathews admitted that he misread the wicket when he won the toss and decided to bat first.
“Yeah, except for a couple of guys, everyone couldn’t really do with the bat, to be honest. I thought I kind of misread the wicket. But, yeah, I thought it might get slower and slower as the game progresses, but it kind of dried up a little bit and was a bit easier, slightly easier than the first session,” Mathews said.
Mathews was also happy that Malinga has found back his menacing best against a load of criti- cism back at home and was also delighted to see part timer Tillakaratne Dilshan bowling superbly despite his failure with the bat.
“Yeah, that shows what kind of character Malinga has. I mean, he’s such a tough guy mentally and physically, and he knows exactly what to do in these situations. He’s so professional. He knows about his stuff. He’s a premium bowler and you’ve got to accept it. Whatever has been done, he’s our main bowler, so he’s dealing with runs again and hats off to him,” said Mathews adding, “Dilshan couldn’t do as well with the bat today, but he seems to find ways of contributing no matter. In all cricket, he was fielding and bowling today as well. Dilshan did a very good job. We didn’t need to have scored another 300 because Dilshan’s bowling was a real plus,” revealed Mathews.
Mathews did not agree to a suggestion that he should have used Malinga earlier than he did for the second spell.
“Not really. We still had about 30-40 runs to play with. We just thought that they would have taken the powerplay a bit later, so I just had Lasith Malinga in my tank. But, yeah, we can’t really say yes or no, but that’s the way it is. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it through in the end,” he explained.
Mathews also described it as an encouraging performance by his players.
“We didn’t have much runs to play with, so we just had to go for the kill. The bowlers responded brilliantly. Shaminda Eranga bowled brilliantly and Malinga once again did a fantastic job, and all the spinners, whoever who bowled today was absolutely brilliant, backed up by fielding. So it was an encouraging performance and a boosting performance for the whole team,” said Mathews.
He also acknowledged the inputs from his senior Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan all past Sri Lanka captains.
“Obviously, I got a lot of support and advice from all the seniors. Special thanks to them. They were throwing their ideas on the table, and I just had to pick and choose. Yeah, lot of support from all the players,” he said. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum admitted that his team just managed to get out of jail despite the horrors of the two-paced pitch at Cardiff.
“It’s hard to know. We sort of expect to chase 138 every day of the week, and then you see the ball sort of turning, stopping, keeping low and swinging, and you know that you’ve got Malinga and hereafter to hit some balls and stuff like that. And you know that 130 odd is a lot bigger total than what it suggests. But, yeah, we probably still got out of jail,” McCullum said. He termed Malinga as the world’s best in the business and admitted that they were lucky to win Sunday’s game.
“You sort of prepare for the dead ball and we’ve had some yorkers with slow balls and slow ball bouncers, et cetera. But Lasith is a completely different propositional all together. Yeah, I thought he bowled brilliantly today, and it was probably unlucky not to come out on the right side of the result.
But it’s hard to, I guess, prepare for that sort of bowling, because once he skips as well as what he does, he’s probably the best in the world at it. So we’re just thankful that even as good as he was today, we still managed to get the win,” explained McCullum.