Angelo Mathews: Scapegoat to Saviour

By Pranavesh Sivakumar

Once-upon-a-time, during the peak period of Sri Lanka Cricket a rookie broke in to the side. Having captained his alma-mater at the Darley road, he walked in to the side as an all-rounder.

Gained and grew in confidence, under the wings and wisdom of best-buddies; Kumar- Mahela. Luckily, he was one of the selected to gain exposure under the big names, though, Sri Lanka is still unsettled is the “transition process”.

The young blood broken in to the unit, at the apt time, as good as an all-rounder was a reliable finisher.

The 31-year-old, has had his own share of great and grey times. However, it’s the grey periods that had got the better of great periods. Initially, it was series of injuries, that cut short his fullest potential. From a handy all-rounder, in fact, across all formats, he was reduced to a specialist batsman. As a result, he was labelled as an “injury-prone” player. Never mind that, question marks were raised from fans, followers, management to selectors on his future. Forgetting the fact, he was one of the handful of seniors and seasoned men in the team.

As and when, injury battered the batsman, Angelo was found travelling to down under to elsewhere for treatment, greater than he would have done for national duty. A willing victim of wounds. He was silently withstanding the tough times, and oblivious of the tougher and tormenting times ahead.

But, this time he had begun to do, what was expected from him, the “homework” part. The Proteas tour saw the gradual re-emergence of the former captain. Finished the test series as the third highest-scorer (117), and the personal top-score of the series with 71.

An Asia Cup was on the horizon. Talks were Lankans had chances, without knowing, what was going to greet them. Curtain-raiser itself virtually brought down the curtain for the Lankans going in as reigning champs. In the opener, Mathews spilt a catch, with a poor show with the blade only worsening. In the only two outings, the island managed to feature, the then, skipper performance kept on deteriorating. The worst that was highlighted, was the run outs and fitness. Like a country caught in the eye of a storm, the first Joesephian to lead a national outfit was stuck and struggling amidst mounting criticism.

The poor Mathews, was hit-hard, this time too hard, following the Asia Cup fiasco. In a way, the castigation was unfair and unreasonable. Clearly, he was not the only cause for the flop at the tournament. The worst was yet to come, with the head coach, adding insult to injury. Stripped-off from captaincy and, never mind that too, no place in the squad either.

Axed Angelo, was thrown at the deep end, trying desperately to survive and, left in the lurch. Making matters worse, was Haturusinghe’s hard action doing the damage. Ditching and disowning him from the squad, and leaving him discouraged, demotivated and demoralised.

This soon, became a “Coach- former captain” saga. The father of one, was lashed out, for a flop, the whole team ought to have taken the onus. This time, though, Mathews broke the silence and counterattacked for being called a “Scapegoat”. Retaliated with a letter and message was “unfair and undeserving treatment”.

On process, this was turning to be an “ugly patch”. Going from bad-to-worse and beyond. As if, the coach and one-time captain duo, didn’t have enough to deal with, a rift had broken and attracting star southpaw Sangakkara urging, that this should return to normalcy soon. Kumar, was one ex-player, not letting Mathews fall apart and

backing him. That also included, placing his faith and pinning hopes on Mathews as a key player at the World Cup.

“Hardest times produce the greatest gift”, remarked motivational guru Robin Sharma. Angelo has been example of that, lately. In what has been the beginning and badly needed boon for the victim Mathews, the brits came down. His homework and application profited with him as the highest run getter, for the Galle-leg, with twin half-centuries, and with an aggregate of 223 runs in conclusion of the series.

Rising from adversity, Angelo has been a classic example of resuscitating resiliently with responsible knocks. In one knock, upon reaching a fifty, he signalled “his blade doing the talking”, and has been consistent on that. He dusted off the man-management issues sending Mathews in to a mess.

The best part of the consistent knock was visible down and under down under. He turned tables from turbulent times and, in fact, turned in to a saviour from scapegoat for the Lankans. The match-winner at Melbourne, has already reminded the real Mathews. Thanks to that, the Lankan brand of cricket is rising.

Alongside the miracle at MCG, the stunning match-winning innings against the Indians at the Champions trophy’17, the unbeaten face saving century has already entered the record books. For a player recovering from wreck to right royal contributions, this would be the telling times.

Mathews, has pulled-off stellar performances. So has been the silent celebration and message. The unorthodox celebration had a speechless message. No matter, how many times the naysayers pulled me down, I’ll push myself up. Followed by, I’ll punch them with my craft. Good for him, he’s mentally and physically strong. Leading an anchor role and, the solitary batter to keep Boult at bay (at the time of writing).

Angelo Mathews: Scapegoat to Saviour

By Pranavesh Sivakumar

Once-upon-a-time, during the peak period of Sri Lanka Cricket a rookie broke in to the side. Having captained his alma-mater at the Darley road, he walked in to the side as an all-rounder.

Gained and grew in confidence, under the wings and wisdom of best-buddies; Kumar- Mahela. Luckily, he was one of the selected to gain exposure under the big names, though, Sri Lanka is still unsettled is the “transition process”.

The young blood broken in to the unit, at the apt time, as good as an all-rounder was a reliable finisher.

The 31-year-old, has had his own share of great and grey times. However, it’s the grey periods that had got the better of great periods. Initially, it was series of injuries, that cut short his fullest potential. From a handy all-rounder, in fact, across all formats, he was reduced to a specialist batsman. As a result, he was labelled as an “injury-prone” player. Never mind that, question marks were raised from fans, followers, management to selectors on his future. Forgetting the fact, he was one of the handful of seniors and seasoned men in the team.

As and when, injury battered the batsman, Angelo was found travelling to down under to elsewhere for treatment, greater than he would have done for national duty. A willing victim of wounds. He was silently withstanding the tough times, and oblivious of the tougher and tormenting times ahead.

But, this time he had begun to do, what was expected from him, the “homework” part. The Proteas tour saw the gradual re-emergence of the former captain. Finished the test series as the third highest-scorer (117), and the personal top-score of the series with 71.

An Asia Cup was on the horizon. Talks were Lankans had chances, without knowing, what was going to greet them. Curtain-raiser itself virtually brought down the curtain for the Lankans going in as reigning champs. In the opener, Mathews spilt a catch, with a poor show with the blade only worsening. In the only two outings, the island managed to feature, the then, skipper performance kept on deteriorating. The worst that was highlighted, was the run outs and fitness. Like a country caught in the eye of a storm, the first Joesephian to lead a national outfit was stuck and struggling amidst mounting criticism.

The poor Mathews, was hit-hard, this time too hard, following the Asia Cup fiasco. In a way, the castigation was unfair and unreasonable. Clearly, he was not the only cause for the flop at the tournament. The worst was yet to come, with the head coach, adding insult to injury. Stripped-off from captaincy and, never mind that too, no place in the squad either.

Axed Angelo, was thrown at the deep end, trying desperately to survive and, left in the lurch. Making matters worse, was Haturusinghe’s hard action doing the damage. Ditching and disowning him from the squad, and leaving him discouraged, demotivated and demoralised.

This soon, became a “Coach- former captain” saga. The father of one, was lashed out, for a flop, the whole team ought to have taken the onus. This time, though, Mathews broke the silence and counterattacked for being called a “Scapegoat”. Retaliated with a letter and message was “unfair and undeserving treatment”.

On process, this was turning to be an “ugly patch”. Going from bad-to-worse and beyond. As if, the coach and one-time captain duo, didn’t have enough to deal with, a rift had broken and attracting star southpaw Sangakkara urging, that this should return to normalcy soon. Kumar, was one ex-player, not letting Mathews fall apart and

backing him. That also included, placing his faith and pinning hopes on Mathews as a key player at the World Cup.

“Hardest times produce the greatest gift”, remarked motivational guru Robin Sharma. Angelo has been example of that, lately. In what has been the beginning and badly needed boon for the victim Mathews, the brits came down. His homework and application profited with him as the highest run getter, for the Galle-leg, with twin half-centuries, and with an aggregate of 223 runs in conclusion of the series.

Rising from adversity, Angelo has been a classic example of resuscitating resiliently with responsible knocks. In one knock, upon reaching a fifty, he signalled “his blade doing the talking”, and has been consistent on that. He dusted off the man-management issues sending Mathews in to a mess.

The best part of the consistent knock was visible down and under down under. He turned tables from turbulent times and, in fact, turned in to a saviour from scapegoat for the Lankans. The match-winner at Melbourne, has already reminded the real Mathews. Thanks to that, the Lankan brand of cricket is rising.

Alongside the miracle at MCG, the stunning match-winning innings against the Indians at the Champions trophy’17, the unbeaten face saving century has already entered the record books. For a player recovering from wreck to right royal contributions, this would be the telling times.

Mathews, has pulled-off stellar performances. So has been the silent celebration and message. The unorthodox celebration had a speechless message. No matter, how many times the naysayers pulled me down, I’ll push myself up. Followed by, I’ll punch them with my craft. Good for him, he’s mentally and physically strong. Leading an anchor role and, the solitary batter to keep Boult at bay (at the time of writing).