After an embarrassing defeat of a innings and 239-runs at the hands of India in the second Test at Nagpur, Sri Lanka Coach Nic Pothas made it clear that there is bound to be repercussions as plans have not been executed and some senior players like Angelo Mathews need to do some soul searching. Pothas urged that he can only come up with solutions to his wretched form as Sri Lanka lost fourth time to India inside three and half days in the last five Test matches.
Mathews, who was expected to shoulder the burden of national team post Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s departure, has scored a meagre 537 runs in 20 innings in his last 10 Tests at an average of 26.85.
“I have been only in place for six months and Angie hasn’t played a lot of Test match cricket prior to one of these games. But you can count on numbers over a period of time” he said on Mathews poor form.
“Your numbers will tell you a pretty good story about where you stand. You can look at yourself and ask what have I done,” Pothas made it clear that there are concerns about the veteran all-rounder’s form.
However, Pothas hoped that Mathews would be able to sort out his technical issues after sessions with batting coach Thilan Samaraweera.
“I am sure he will sit down with Angelo and work things out. Angelo is a quality international cricketer and he is hurting at the moment because he takes immense amount of pride in his game” he said.
“I have no doubt that with his ability he will come up with some answers. As coaches, we need to provide him with the best environment as possible in order for him to make the best chance.”
First time batting at number four in his career, Mathews has an ordinary series so far, with below par scores of 52, 12,10 and 10 in four innings. Earlier, Sri Lanka test captain Dinesh Chandimal also expressed his disappointment over the prolonged rough patch of Mathews batting form.
“Angelo is the most senior guy in the line-up & if he is not scoring, our team goes down. As senior players, you need to stand up and perform so the youngsters can follow. I’m sure he will stand up and make it count again” Chandimal said on Mathews poor form after the heavy defeat in Nagpur test.
