Gura about to deliver the brand-new version of Angi
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Dropped from the ODI side over fitness concerns, Angelo Mathews has been putting in the hard yards to keep himself in good stead for the three-match Test series against England and Sri Lanka Cricket’s Head of Cricket predicts that he will excel.
“I think he is hungry now, hungrier than before, with what has happened,” Asanka Gurusinha, former National Team Manager turned Chief Cricket Operations Officer, said. “These things make people tougher. We can see a different Angi than we’ve seen in the recent past.”
Mathews, reinstated as Sri Lanka skipper in January when Chandika Hathurusingha took over as Head Coach, was sacked after Sri Lanka made a first round exit from the Asia Cup with embarrassing defeats to Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“I had a very open chat with him,” Gurusinha said. “Yes, he was taken out of captaincy; he was taken out of the team. But our job is to support him. He discussed what he wants to do and we told him what we think he should do. He is really listening to us and following everything we have asked him to do.”
Avishka Gunawardena–the former Sri Lanka opener and Sri Lanka A–coach is helping Mathews manage his skill side while trainers are taking control of his fitness along with physios.
“At HPC (High Performance Center) we don’t take sides but our job is to get a player ready to play and we are doing that,” Gurusinha said. “He has been our number one batsman and we are missing him. There are no technical issues with Angi. What we are doing is to making him ready for the Test series.”
Mathews has been regularly at training during the last few days. Shuttling between Kettarama and NCC, where he uses the indoor nets during rain and Gurusinha says he is keen to start bowling. The injury-prone former skipper has ruled himself out of bowling since January on the advice of cricket selectors to reduce his workload and minimise the risk of being injured. He has been troubled by recurring injuries since being brought back as one-day captain in January and has had to sit out some matches during the year.
“He wants to bowl again which we are trying to slow down a bit,” Gurusinha revealed. “We have asked him to play the Test series first and look at it after that. He hasn’t bowled yet and he is not ready for the Test series but we are currently seeing whether he can do so during the New Zealand one-dayers. The selectors have told him not to bowl and they have not changed their mind. So it’s down to Angi to decide whether he wants to bowl or not.”
Angelo Mathews who has scored over 5,000 runs in Tests and ODI cricket, has taken 114 wickets in ODI cricket with a best of 6 for 20.