Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, 2nd Test: Angelo Mathews touches unique milestone

As Sri Lanka take on Pakistan in the second Test match at Galle, which was rescheduled from Colombo for the growing unrest in the country, former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews has touched a unique milestone. The 35-year-old became the sixth Sri Lankan cricketer to complete 100 Test matches in his career as he was named in the Sri Lanka team on Sunday.

Incidentally, Mathews made his Test debut for Sri Lanka on July 4, 2009, also against Pakistan at the Galle International Stadium. He scored 42 and 27 runs in the two innings, while also claiming two wickets in the match. The Sri Lankan side also had the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tilakratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis in the team.

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Sri Lanka lost the first of the ongoing Test match against Pakistan at the Galle. 

Now 35, Mathews has revealed that he would like to continue playing for a few more years before he retires.

“It would be nice to get to 10,000 test runs. Not many guys have done that and that’s something that I want to achieve,” he said ahead of the 2nd Test.

The veteran cricketer also revealed that former England bowler James Anderson remains his inspiration in the game, who is still playing at the age of 40.

“Jimmy Anderson is my inspiration. At the age of 40, he’s still delivering and he wants to do it for a couple of more years. It’s the drive that you have,” Mathews said. 

“This is not going to stop here and I still have few more years left. Age is just a number and I’ll work on my fitness,” he added.

Angelo Mathews currently has 6912 runs in Test cricket, with an average of 45.47. He has also scored 13 centuries, 38 half-centuries and one double century in his kitty.

The match also saw the debut of 19-year-old spinner Dunith Wellalage, who has impressed in domestic cricket in recent years.

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Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (C), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Dunith Wellalage, Asitha Fernando

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fawad Alam, Agha Salman, Mohammad Nawaz, Yasir Shah, Hasan Ali, Nauman Ali, Naseem Shah