Drama and Angelo Mathews co-exist for one last dance as it seemed to follow him around at many points in his career.
Life isn’t flawless. The careers of Sri Lankan cricket players are considerably worse. Few people are more aware of this than Angelo Mathews.
It is rare for long cricketing lifetimes, like Mathews’, to be incident-free and without any drama. Conflicts with the board, coaching staff, former players, shady politicians, the meddling incompetence of sports ministers, summary dismissals from one group of selectors, and summary reappointments when the selectors themselves are fired all serve to further energise them in Sri Lanka.
Drama is not something Mathews has ever been interested in. He actually seems like a very simple player who has played in 119 Test matches and served as captain in 34. Naturally, he takes offense—we all do. However, he was typically the one who was being drawn without his will into the serious debate surrounding Sri Lankan cricket. “Why do I have to deal with this?” was the general attitude.
Nevertheless, fires would sometimes break through the ice. The most noteworthy event was one that added a little spiciness to the setting of his final Test.
According to the report, Mathews became the first cricket player in history to be timed out during a 2023 World Cup match due to circumstances he deemed intolerable. In reaction, he criticised the Bangladeshi squad harshly, calling their actions “disgraceful” and accusing them of being dishonourable. It was ridiculously fiery by his standards.
However, life pushes you to move on, people grow up, and time heals. That timed-out episode during last year’s Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh had caused some repercussions, but Mathews already appeared to have moved past it.
And the Bangladeshi players could not have been more polite or kind to him during this game. They gave him pats on the back, shook his hand, smiled at him, spoke laudatorily about his accomplishments, and smiled some more during the course of the last five days.
On day five, when Mathews was batting for a draw in his final Test innings, the atmosphere reached its zenith. Bangladesh made a significant lbw appeal off the 43rd ball he faced. Mushfiqur Rahim approached Mathews during their review of the not-out ruling, and they engaged in a lengthy, light-hearted talk that concluded with Mathews petting Mushfiqur’s beard. Mathews disclosed what had been stated after the play.
“Mushfiq kept chirping, and he wanted me to go for big shots,” Mathews said. “I said, ‘no, Mushfiq, I’ve played with you since Under-19s and I know you very well – and this is not the time for me to go for big shots; obviously, we want to draw this game’.”
Mushfiqur implied in his remarks that since this was Mathews’ last innings, he ought to be throwing his bat a little bit. He ought to be enjoying himself. However, when the first two wickets fell, Sri Lanka’s chances of winning were so slim that the dressing room had urged caution, and Mathews, who may have been the last Sri Lankan player to retire after more than 100 Test matches, spent his final afternoon in the format defending.
Mathews needed to see out some spin on his last day of Test cricket, but he didn’t have a lot of short, fast deliveries to absorb. Mathews absorbed 45 balls, or roughly 20%, of the 222 balls Sri Lanka could have faced.
Nevertheless, there were the past greats who publicly honoured him, the long naya (cobra) kite that flew over the ramparts of Galle Fort with Mathews’ name and jersey number on it, and the supporters who flocked to the banks and stayed to give him high fives when he returned after the presentation. Living as a cricket player in Sri Lanka has its own pleasures. Mathews has had a particularly illustrious life for a man who has been so wary of drama.