Angelo Mathews Withdraws From Limited-Overs Tour Of England Due To Birth Of His Child

Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews has not flown with the squad to England for their white-ball series – 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs – starting June 23.

He had made himself unavailable for selection for the tour as he and his wife Heshani are expecting their third child soon.

Mathews was omitted from the 3-match ODI series against Bangladesh, which Sri Lanka lost 2-1. This is because the selectors are looking to build a younger outfit for the 2023 World Cup – they have also dropped seniors in Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal, apart from Mathews.

Besides, they put 30-year-old Kusal Perera at the helm in white-ball cricket. Another senior in Thisara Perera announced an early retirement aged 32.

Our main target is the 2023 World Cup: Selection Committee Chairman

Pramodya Wickramasinghe, the Chairman National Cricket Selection Committee, said that this new policy to drop seniors – even as experienced and proven as someone like Mathews – is explicable, and was justified in Sri Lanka’s 97-run win over Bangladesh in the 3rd ODI.

“We played with three debutants and if we lost this final game everyone would have pointed out their fingers at the selectors. We always think about the youth and our policy is to focus on the 2023 World Cup but not to forget the seniors as well. We wanted to give the youngsters match practice and without match practice they cannot obtain any experience.” he told the Daily News.

“We have a clear vision and we are determined to accomplish it as long as no one interferes with our system. We played in Bangladesh with the cream of the current crop of players in Sri Lanka. We would have had to give them that opportunity some day.”

He further said that their main ambition is to prepare a team for the 2023 World Cup and hence have opted for younger, fitter players over the seniors.

“Somebody had to do it. Without doing so, you can’t think of any future. Our main target is the 2023 World Cup. We could have easily named some senior players and got winning results and finally we could have got the credit but we wanted to look for the future.

“This is a combination of youth and experience. It is not an entirely new side. The target is the 2023 World Cup. What I can say is that we picked the present squad with a view of moving forward from this point,” Wickramasinghe concluded.

After the series against England, which concludes on July 4th, Sri Lanka will host India for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is, starting July 13th. India will be fielding a second-string squad as most of the first-choice players will be in England for the WTC final and the Test series.

Sri Lanka ODI and T20 squad for 2021 tour of England: Kusal Perera (C), Danushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, Oshada Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Charith Asalanka, Ramesh Mendis, Akila Dananjaya, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne, Ishan Jayaratne, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Praveen Jayawickrama, Nuwan Pradeep, Lakshan Sandakan, Asitha Fernando, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando.

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