The dilemma of Sri Lanka’s injury laden Shorter formats Captain Angelo Mathews is far from over, as now the Chief Selector Graeme Labrooy has confirmed that in future he would play only as a specialist batsman in the team.
Currently, Mathews is part of Team Kandy in the ongoing Super Provincial Four Day Tournament. However, even as he has been named Captain of the team, he skipped first match, as Labrooy Wants to preserve him for the bigger things.
“Angelo Mathews will not bowl again and will play as a specialist batsman across all formats” Said Powerful Chief Selector Over Skype.
Interestingly, since last two years, Mathews has been missing more matches, than playing for Sri Lanka across all formats. In November-December last year he missed a full tour of India and then opted out of Bangladesh tour as well earlier this year just after one match. As recently as in Nidahas trophy, he ruled out at the last moment, as he couldn’t recover from his hamstring injury.
In his absence, The dynamic Dinesh Chandimal has performed exceedingly well as a Captain and won three trophies for Sri Lanka during Bangladesh tour. More importantly, in his leadership, Sri Lanka looked a settled and more energetic unit, and played to won the matches.
However, Labrooy has always backed Mathews and has openly said that he is the best option to carry forward Sri Lanka in the 2019 World Cup as a Captain.
