Angelo Mathews to Chair as the Limited-Overs Captain of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has announced the return of Angelo Mathews on January 16.  The cricket board also has decided that he would return as a skipper for limited-overs cricket before the 2019 World Cup.  The decision has been taken just six months after the all-rounder had been sacked from the position. Earlier, Mathews had led the team as the captain in all three formats of the game following frequent attacks of injury. The latest move appeared as a surprise after Mathews had quit as the Sri Lankan captain in last July. Thilanga Sumathipala, the President of Sri Lanka Cricket had asked the board officials to reconsider Mathews after having intimate consultations with the newly appointed coach Chandika Hathurusingha and other team selectors.

Mathews remarked that he took some time to decide the proposal before accepting the captaincy of Sri Lanka´s Twenty20 and one-day teams. He also added that serving his motherland is among his national duties and the team require stability in order to move into a World Cup in 18 months.  The report also disclosed that Dinesh Chandimal would remain as a Test captain of Sri Lanka.

Sumathipala also remarked that Mathews was expected to set up the troop before the World Cup in Wales and England in 2019. The returning captain would face his first challenge this month during the tri-nation ODI tournament in Bangladesh.  The all-rounder had been widely criticized for the loss against Zimbabwe during a home test series in 2017. He described later, the shameful defeat to Zimbabwe could be considered as the lowest point of his career and it was indeed a hard pill to swallow.