The unfortunate dismissal ended a brilliant innings from Mathews, in which he scored his 16th Test century and put Sri Lanka well on top against Afghanistan. After he steadied the hosts through a late in the day collapse where they lost two wickets in as many balls, Mathews was unbeaten on 141 as the last over closed in on Day Two.

In what should have been a freebie, Qais Ahmed bowled a rank long hop well down the leg side to the right hander, pitching halfway down the track and barely staying inside the tramlines. Mathews’ eyes lit up, and he cleared his front leg looking to steer the ball behind square with a powerful sweep shot.

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He made decent contact with the ball which rolled out towards the boundary at backward square. But, such was the momentum he put into the shot and the angle he was at to reach the ball, Mathews couldn’t stop his bat from following through well behind him. Unfortunately, his bat smashed into the top of the stumps, turning a certain boundary into a wicket.

Mathews knelt on the floor for several seconds processing the dismissal, looking horrified at what he had done. It meant Sri Lanka ended the day on 410-6, and gave Ahmed his second wicket of the day.

Mathews had been involved in another dismissal earlier in the day, when he sent Dhananjaya de Silva back when he was halfway down the pitch a direct hit from Hashmatullah Shahidi meant he was out first ball.

Watch: Angelo Mathews obliterates own stumps below

Qais to Angelo Mathews, OUt #srilankavsafghan #ining pic.twitter.com/ghx9E6EJPc

— Daniyal (@xaryanlix11) February 3, 2024