Angelo Mathews has hit out at selection ‘agendas’ in Sri Lanka cricket after he was awarded Player of the Match in his first T20I appearance since 2021.
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Mathews scored 46 off 38 balls in Sri Lanka’s chase against Zimbabwe in Colombo yesterday (January 14), which ultimately ended in the hosts winning off the final ball of the match. Speaking in the post-match press conference, Mathews highlighted his non-selection for T20Is over the last few years.
“Even though I performed well in the LPL in the last two seasons I was not picked,” said Mathews. “I don’t have control over it. But if somebody is working with agendas they’ll carry it. My job is to try and keep performing, keep myself fit and the rest will follow.”
Before his appearance yesterday, Mathews most recent T20I appearance was against the West Indies in Match 2021. The last time he scored a half-century in the format was in 2017 against South Africa. In the 2023 LPL, Mathews scored 210 runs from 11 matches at a strike rate of 133.75. In both the 2023 and 2022 tournaments, Mathews finished in the top 12 run scorers.
Later on in his press conference, Mathews also hit out at “decision-makers” as the reason for Sri Lanka’s failure to qualify for the Champions Trophy. Sri Lanka finished ninth in the league table in the Cricket World Cup last year, one place outside of the qualification spots for next year’s event. Mathews replaced Matheesha Pathirana in Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad during the tournament. Before his first appearance in the competition against England, Mathews had played four ODIs since the end of 2019.
During the tournament, Sri Lanka Cricket were suspended by the ICC for government interference in Board matters. Their suspension was lifted in November last year.
“Unfortunately we didn’t qualify for the Champions Trophy but it didn’t happen just in the World Cup,” said Mathews. “We had two years to plan everything, they knew exactly if we end up in certain places that we might not qualify for the CT. But unfortunately those decision makers went with what they wanted and it’s unfortunate that we’re in this situation.”
The second match of Sri Lanka’s T20I series against Zimbabwe will take place tomorrow (January 16) in Colombo.
