Explained: Why Angelo Mathews won’t be playing for Sri Lanka at the World Cup

Mathews was dropped from Sri Lanka’s ODI squad for the World Cup Qualifier in June. Sri Lanka went on to win the competition and secure their place in the main tournament which gets underway in less than four weeks. Despite his good ODI record, Mathews will also not be part of Sri Lanka’s squad for the highly anticipated competition.

Mathews has played 221 ODIs for Sri Lanka and averages over 40 with the bat. He’s scored three hundreds in the format and registered 40 half-centuries with a best of 139*. He’s also taken 120 wickets, making him one of 22 players in history who have scored over 5,000 runs in the format and taken over 100 wickets. Only Sanath Jayasuriya has scored more runs and taken more wickets in ODIs for Sri Lanka than Mathews has.

In the 2019 World Cup, Mathews was Sri Lanka’s second-leading run scorer behind Kusal Perera. He scored 244 runs in the tournament, including a century against India. After three consecutive low scores in Sri Lanka’s first three matches of the tournament, out for ducks in the first two, Mathews found his form and was central to the side’s memorable win over England. He scored an unbeaten 85*, anchoring the innings before Lasith Malinga ran through England.

However, 2019 marked the start of a rapid drop-off in the format for Mathews. He had decent returns in a bilateral series against Bangladesh later in the year, scoring two half-centuries and a 48, but hasn’t passed fifty again since. He opted not to travel to Pakistan for Sri Lanka’s next ODI series, in which Dasun Shanaka made his mark as a lower middle-order batter.

Mathews was then picked for the following series against the West Indies but recorded a highest score of 12 with the bat from three innings. He did, however, put in a stunning performance with the ball in the third ODI, taking four wickets – three in his last three overs – securing a tight victory.

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Due to Covid-19, Sri Lanka didn’t play another ODI series for a year, when they travelled to the Caribbean. Having played one match in that series and scoring only five, Mathews returned home for personal reasons. When the time came to select the next squad for Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka, Mathews was dropped by a new-look selection committee that also omitted Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal in favour of a younger squad.

That was the start of a two-year hiatus for Mathews from the ODI format until he was recalled earlier this year for Sri Lanka’s series against New Zealand. The decision to bring back both Mathews and Kusal Perera followed a disastrous ODI series in India, where Sri Lanka lost all three games and were bowled out for 73 in the final match. After the loss, there were calls to select more senior players to boost the squad ahead of the World Cup.

Despite being thrown a lifeline for his career in the formats, Mathews return to the side was not matched with a return to form. He registered scores of 18, 0 and 12 in the three matches and did not bowl. Subsequently, he was dropped for the World Cup Qualifier six months later.

Instead, Sri Lanka’s middle order consists of Sadeera Samarawickrama, who’s managed to find consistent runs since his return to the format in the Qualifier, after a four-year absence. Charith Asalanka and Dhananjaya de Silva have also been preferred to Mathews, both of whom have scored multiple half-centuries this year.

Mathews may be an all-format great for Sri Lanka, but his ODI career looks to be at an end.