Angelo Mathews Bids Goodbye to Test Cricket

damithudaya (77)modAtlas Ambassador - LKin Steem Sri Lanka • last month

Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,

One of Sri Lanka’s finest all-rounders, Angelo Mathews, officially bid farewell to Test cricket. After an outstanding 16-year career representing Sri Lanka, he made this decision to retire after the first Test match against Bangladesh at Galle on the same ground where he made his debut back in 2009. He is a once-in-a-lifetime player in all three formats, and he showed that at the start of his career.

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He is tremendous as a batter, ballplayer, and fielder, and he is a leader. However, mainly due to injuries, he experienced major setbacks in his career, which reduced his potential. But still, he walked out as the third-highest run-scorer in Tests for Sri Lanka, leaving a lot of memories.

Mathews captained the Sri Lankan team in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup, and later he got the national call in 2008. He played his Test debut on 4 July 2009 against Pakistan. Mainly working as a batting allrounder, he straightaway got his maiden fifty in that series.

Mathews was a key player for Sri Lanka, especially in the ODI format, and was grooming under great players like Mahela, Sanga, Sanath, Murali, Dilshan, Vaas, etc. But as I said, injuries limited his potential a lot, and in Test he gave up balling, and played as a batter.

His Test stats

Matches	119 Tests
Runs Scored	8,214
Batting Average	44.40
Centuries	16
Half-Centuries	45
Top score	200*
Wickets Taken	33
Best bowling	4/44
Catches	78

So, as you can see, he had a consistent and long career with a 44+ average and 100+ matches. He is the third-highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka, behind Sanga and Mahela. And the fourth most capped player.

Mathews was very reliable both at home and away. 9 out of his 16 centuries came from away, and his average was over 44 as well. In the golden era, especially from 2011-2015, he was a beast and played an anchor role as a player and then also as the captain. In 2015, he was the Wisden Cricketer of the Year.

In 2013, at the age of 25, he became the youngest Test captain for Sri Lanka. In 34 matches as a captain, he led the team to 13 wins, 15 defeats, and 6 draws. He had faced major difficulties, with seniors retiring from Cricket, and also he was criticized for not carrying the momentum and legacy from that era.

It's not just his stats that matter, but for sticking with the team in very hard conditions after 2015, and being a major part of the team for 15+ years.

Thank you, Angelo, and Happy retirement!