Angelo Mathews set to miss Australia tour due to injury

Angelo Mathews set to miss Australia tour due to injury

Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews is set to miss the Australian tour due to the hamstring injury he picked up during the ongoing tour to South Africa. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has confirmed that the star all-rounder will not be available for the forthcoming Twenty20 International (T20I) series Down Under due to injury. A stand-in captain is expected to be named on Tuesday, when the selectors meet to pick the squad. Mathews returned back to Sri Lanka after he sustained the injury during his match-winning innings in the second T20I against South Africa. Dinesh Chandimal took the reins in the final game of that series, before Upul Tharanga became stand-in captain on interim basis for the One-Day International (ODI) series.

While Chandimal led the team to victory in the final T20I as well as the series, Tharanga has been unimpressive in the ODI series so far. Under his leadership, the side has lost first three ODIs of the five-match series, and with them, the series as well. He has not done enough to justify his position both as a player as well as the captain. This will be on the Sri Lankan selectors’ mind when they meet to decide the composition of the squad as well as pick the stand-in skipper for the tour. On current form, neither Chandimal nor Tharanga deserve to be on the plane to Australia for the T20Is.

“The selection meeting on Tuesday will decide the squad and the captain who will lead in the three matches. The team will arrive in Canberra on Monday the 13th,” an official board statement read. Sri Lanka are expected to play a practice T20 in Canberra on February 15, before flying to Melbourne on 17th for the first of three T20Is. The next two matches will be played at South Geelong (February 19) and at the Adelaide Oval (February 22).