Angelo Mathews

At 36 years old, Angelo Mathews has this physical status:

Angelo Davis Mathews, (born 2 June 1987), is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain in both formats.

He was also a key member of the team that defeated the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty2020.

Mathews and Lasith Malinga, an occasional bowler who can spin down match-winning spells, holds the record for the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI cricket.

Personal life

Mathews was born in Colombo to Tamil father Tyronne Mathews and Burgher mother Monica Mathews. Mathews was raised in Colombo's St. Joseph's College.

Mathews is married to Heshanie Silva, his longtime companion. Former President Mahinda Rajapakse attended the wedding reception at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on July 18, 2013. They have one son and two daughters.

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Domestic career

Mathews made his List A debut for Sri Lanka Under-23s against New Zealand A at Colombo's Police Park Ground in September, 2005. In the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka, he captained the Sri Lankan cricket team. In November, 2006, he made his first-class debut for Colombo Cricket Club.

In the 2017 Indian Premier League season, he played for Delhi Daredevils. He is one of the most sought-out players in the Premier League world, having been acquired by the Pune Warriors for US$950,000.

He was named captain of Kandy's squad for the 2017-2018-19 Super Four Provincial Tournament in March 2018. He was also selected captain for Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament the following month.

He was named captain of Kandy's squad in August 2018 in the SLC T20 League, in August 2018. He was drafted by the Colombo Kings for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League in October 2020. He was signed by the Colombo Stars in July 2022 for the third edition of the Lanka Premier League.

International career

Mathews began his international career in late 2008 with the intention of becoming a true allrounder, but he's now given priority to his batting (to minimize his workload and avoid injury), and he now appears as a specialist batsman in Test cricket. However, he also serves as a batting allrounder in limited overs cricket for the remainder of the team. With a more effective strike rate of 84.06, he has positioned himself as a risk in the Sri Lankan finals.

In November 2008, he made his international debut against Zimbabwe in November 2008 and his Test debut against Pakistan at Galle in July 2009.

Angelo Mathews made his Test debut in 2009. He was on vacation in Sri Lanka at the Pakistani Test Centre. The Test also marked Abdur Rauf, Mohammad Amir, and Saeed Ajmal's debuts. In the third Test of the series, he scored his maiden half-century, playing at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. In September, 2011, his first ton was against Australia in the same venue. Mathews has an average success in Tests in countries like Australia, South Africa, and India, but there have been few opportunities to develop on it up to now. His outstanding results both at home and in countries such as England and UAE make up for it. In the famous Sri Lanka tour of England and Ireland, two of his four centuries lived in England against a high quality pace attacker consisting of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. He has also flourished with the added responsibility of captaincy, winning 86.62 in 13 matches.

Mathews was Sri Lanka's youngest ever Test captain in February 2013, after being groomed for the position for two years. In England's historic Test series victory in 2014, he captained the Lankan team. In the first match against Zimbabwe 2020, he scored his highest Test result (200 out of 428 balls) on his first match.

Mathews was widely predicted to be Sri Lanka's next limited over captain after Kumar Sangakkara resigned as the ODI captain after the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. However, Tillakaratne Dilshane and Mahela Jayawardene followed, with brief stints. After Sri Lanka's humiliation in the final of the 2012 ICC World Twenty2020, skipper Jayawardene resigned as captain of the T20I team. Mathews was commissioned as the T20I captain by Lasith Malinga later that month. Mathews was eventually named as the ODI and Test captain after Jayawardene in February 2013.

During the Sri Lankan tour of Australia in 2010/11, Mathews was a key participant in the Sri Lanka One Day team. Mathews won 77* runs in his first match on November 3, 2010 in a match with Lasith Malinga, who also scored his first half-century. When he first stepped into the crease, Sri Lanka was in danger, but eventually won the game. Mathews and Malinga made the best ninth wicket partnership in ODI history by scoring 132 runs on the ninth wicket.

Mathews won their first-ever Test series in England at Lord's and Headingley, bringing back-to-back centuries against England. Sri Lanka also won the ODI series 3 – 2. The England tour was followed by a 2 0 victory over Pakistan at home, where Mathews and his staff arranged a winning send-off for Mahela Jayawardene from Tests.

Mathews scored his first ODI century against India at Ranchi on November 16, 2014. He reached four boundaries and ten major sixes, but by century's mark on Indian skipper Virat Kohli, he was mainly on the losing team. Mathews' captaincy, however, dropped all the matches in the 5 ODI series against India in 2014. This is the worst loss by Sri Lanka in a bilateral context.

Mathew's captaincy's year 2014 was a memorable one in the ODI series and also the 2014 Asia Cup. He made his ODI captain debut in 2008, winning 20 matches out of 32 games and 62.5 percent. He was named captain of the World Test XI by the International Criminal Institute in 2014 for his performances in 2014. He was also named in the year's Cricbuzz XI.

Mathews scored the fastest ODI fifty by a Sri Lankan on March 11, 2015, defeating Scotland in the final pool A match of the ICC World Cup. His fifty came from just 20 balls, with 5 sixes and 1 four in the total.

Mathews was able to help the team advance to the quarter finals of the World Cup 2015 under his captaincy, where they lost the quarter finals against South Africa on March 18th. This was Sri Lanka's first defeat in World Cups since 2003, with no one qualifying for the semi finals.

After Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, and Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mathews became Sri Lanka's fourth all-rounder to take 100 ODI runs with more than 3000 ODI runs. On July 26, 2015, he took his 100th ODI wicket from Mohammad Hafeez, lbw.

Mathews was appointed as the T20I captain on March 8, 2016 as a result of Lasith Malinga's continuing injuries. Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia, which was at number one in Test rankings, on August 17, 2016, under Mathews' captaincy. This was the second time Sri Lanka managed to Whitewash a major Test team in their history. West Indies led by Brian Lara were whitewashed in a three-test series in 2001, but apart from that, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were whitewashed.

Sri Lanka lost a five-match home ODI series 3–2 to Zimbabwe in July 2017. Matthews called the loss "one of my career" and he resigned as the team's captain in all three formats the following day.

Mathews scored his eighth test century against India on December 4th. He arrived in Sri Lanka's innings during a difficult period for the team, where he slowly built the innings with captain Dinesh Chandimal. Finally, Sri Lanka was able to draw the match.

During the second ODI against India, Mathews scored his second ODI century at Mohali on December 12, 2017. However, his century was marred by Rohit Sharma's third double century in the earlier innings, and Sri Lanka was on a hunt for a mammoth total of 392. Sri Lanka crossed 250 after ten ODI matches, losing the match by 141 runs after Mathews' unbeaten century.

Mathews strained his hamstring muscles as he ran in to his third ball of his third overtightening during the second T20I against India. He left the field but not come to bat as well. He will be out of cricket for at least two weeks as a result of medical treatment and rumors.

Mathews was recalled as the captain of Sri Lanka in One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for the second time less than six months after resigned from the position on January 9th. After losing ODI, he was forced to resign from captaincy at the end of the Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka in 2017. However, Mathews captaincy was limited due to several losses in 2017 in various ways, including in football, new coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and a new selection committee handed over Mathews' captaincy for the second time.

When Sri Lanka lost the first match for Zimbabwe in the Bangladesh tri-series, things were not going well for his captaincy. He suffered a knee injury during the game and was barred from the rest of the ODI series. Dinesh Chandimal captained the team and won the competition as well. Mathews will recover from the Test series against Bangladesh, according to initial reports, but he did not recover and therefore was suspended from the Test squad. Chandimal was also missing the T20I series, where Chandimal was named as the T20I captain. Mathews returned from a hamstring injury on this tour to Bangladesh in 2017, having also done so in 2017 in South Africa and India. He had missed a complete tour of Zimbabwe in 2016 due to "multiple leg injuries" as well.

In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be given a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket ahead of the 2018–19 season.

Mathews was fired as the captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team in September, 2018, after Sri Lanka fell out of the tournament after losing both their group matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Dinesh Chandimal, the Test captain, was chosen as the replacement for Mathews to lead the limited overs team.

Mathews scored his ninth Test century in late 2018. The fourth day, Mathews and Kusal Mendis batted all over the fourth day, the fifth time the Sri Lankan pair had done so in Test history. They put on an unbeaten double century partnership on Friday, with 115 wicketless overs for New Zealanders in total. The game was called a draw after rain was interrupted. In the second innings of a Test, Sri Lanka's highest wicket against New Zealand and Sri Lanka's highest. In the second innings of a Test outside of Asia, a Sri Lankan pair had added 200 runs for the first time.

Mathews was suffering with a hamstring injury while batting with Chandimal in the second Test. He was sent straight to the hospital and did not come to bat after tea. Sri Lanka finally lost the game and series 1–0. He was refused admission to the ODI tour and the upcoming Australian tour as well.

He was selected in Sri Lanka's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in April 2019. Mathews regained his form during the pool match against England after two straight failures of 0,0, 9 with the bat in World Cup. He scored unbeaten 85 runs to finish with a total of 232 runs. Sri Lanka won the match by 20 runs after veteran Malinga's bowling efforts. Mathews scored his 12,000th international run for Sri Lanka during the match. Mathews was surprisingly ordered to bowl the 48th over during the match against the West Indies on July 1st. Nicolas Pooran, who was on 118, was picked up by he, and the West Indies were all set to defeat them. Mathews had not bowled for eight months, even in the nets. Mathews scored his third century against India on July 6, 2019, where all his three centuries before that date were against India. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, lost the match by 7 wickets.

In January 2020, Mathews was added to the T20I series against India. It was his first T20I appearance after 16 months. On January 10, 2020, he was in his third T20I and hit the ground running. However, he went on to finish with 38 runs in three overs without a wicket. Sri Lanka eventually lost the match and the series with the bat, with the bat.

Mathews scored his second double hundred during his first test against Zimbabwe on January 22, 2020. In 465 balls in a span of 600 minutes, he scored unbeaten 200 runs in 465 runs in 465 runs in the middle. After Sangakkara's double in 2015, his double hundred is the first double hundred scored by a Sri Lanka in five years. Finally, Sri Lanka won the match by ten wickets and Mathews received the man of the match award. Due to Kusal Mendis' second century, Sri Lanka was able to draw the second Test, ending the series 1–0. Mathews was named the best run scorer in the series at the end of the season. Mathews had 277 runs with a double hundred and one fifty at an average of 138.50.

Mathews gave a match winning bowling spell during his third ODI against the West Indies. He bowled all ten overs in the match since being sidelined by premier pacer Nuwan Pradeep's injury in July 2015. He bowled penultimate over for 59 runs in the match for Sri Lanka, where he won by 6 runs. He received the man of the match award for his match-winning bowling effort.

Mathews scored his 6000 test runs in his first test match of Sri Lanka's tour of 2021. He scored his 36th test half century in the second innings. He scored 71 runs on the crease in 344 minutes with 219 balls and 344 minutes. His patient innings gave Sri Lankans a lead, but England took the match by 7 wickets.

Mathews scored his 11th test century in his second test match on England's tour of Sri Lanka in 2021. It was Mathews 1st test ton on home soil since 2015 and his first test ton at Gall International Cricket Stadium. He scored 110 runs on 11 boundaries, bringing a big number to the team in First innings. In this series, he is Sri Lanka's highest run scorer. England won by 6 wickets in the match and also won the series.

Mathews was appointed as Sri Lanka's stand-in captain for the T20I series in the West Indies on February 27, 2021, but Mathews, the team's elected captain, Dasun Shanaka, was unable to obtain a US transit visa and travel with the team at the time. Sri Lanka won only the second T20I, where the West Indies won the series 2–1. He had a bad outing in batting, scoring 5,13 and 11 in three matches. However, after the first ODI in the series, he abruptly ended the tour of West Indies due to his daughter's fragile health.

Mathews scored his 12th test century on May 15th, 2022, during his first test match against Bangladesh. When approaching his second century, he was disqualified for 199 runs. Mathews later received the player of the match award for his efforts after his innings match ended in a draw. He maintained his good form into his next match, scoring his 13th test century. Sri Lanka's 199-run partnership with Dinesh Chandimal and his unbeaten 145 run total helped put the team into a good position. Sri Lanka won the match by ten wickets, and Mathews received the series award for his regular appearance. He was the highest run scorer in the series, scoring 344 runs over two centuries. He was named ICC Men's Player of the Month for May 2022, becoming the first Sri Lankan to achieve the feat.

Sri Lanka suffered a significant loss in the Australian Test series in July 2022, where the match came to a conclusion in three days. Mathews obtained COVID-19 during the game and was ruled out of the Test. In the first innings of the second Test against Australia, however, he scored 52 runs on July 9, 2022. Later, Sri Lankan rupees reached a total of 554 thanks to Chandimal's double hundred. Sri Lanka won the game by an innings and 39 runs, marking Sri Lanka's first-ever Test victory over Australia.

Matthews played in his 100th Test in July 2022, in the second match against Pakistan.

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Awards

• 2015 Wisden Cricketer of the Year
• Sri Lanka Cricket Cricketer of the Year 2015
• ICC Men’s Player of the Month for May 2022.