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The full text of Angelo Mathews’ letter to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, following his removal as captain

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2018Dear CEO,I write to you pursuant to the meeting held on Friday the 21st of September 2018 at SLC premises, which was attended by all the selectors along with the National Cricket Coach Mr. Chandika Hathurusinghe. At this meeting the selection committee and the coach informed me to step down as Sri Lanka’s captain of the ODI and T20 team. Though I was initially surprised, it was immediately felt that I have been made the scapegoat in this entire saga of Sri Lanka’s dismal performances against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. I’m willing to take part of the blame but at the same time, feel betrayed and let down if the blame is solely put on me. As you know all decisions are taken through a mutual understanding with the Selectors and the Head Coach. And though I do not agree with the reasoning that the losses should be accrued single handed to the Captaincy, I however eagerly and wholeheartedly respect the request of the selection committee and the head coach in asking me to step down and do so with immediate effect.You would recall that I relinquished my captaincy in all formats in July 2017, pursuant to captaining Sri Lanka continuously for a period of 5 years in all formats. During this tenure under my captaincy series wins were recorded against England, we whitewashed Australia 3-0 and winning the Asia Cup in 2014 were some memorable occasions. However in the team’s best interest having felt that the time had come for new leadership I voluntarily resigned as Captain from all formats of the game in July 2017.Thereafter, pursuant to Sri Lanka suffering heavy defeats in all formats and having several appointed Captains, namely Upul Tharanga, Thisara Perera, Chamara Kapugedara, Lasith Malinga and Dinesh Chandimal during the tenure between July 2017 and December 2017 in the ODI and T20 formats, Mr Chandika Hathurusinghe immediately having been appointed as Head coach met with me in person, requested me to reconsider taking up the Captaincy until the World Cup in 2019. Though myself, my family and close friends discouraged me in taking up the mantle, being confident in Hathurusinghe and his plans to elevate the performances of the Sri Lankan team and in the best interest of my country I agreed to do so until the World Cup.I wish to put it on record that though Sri Lanka suffered these heavy defeats in the Asia Cup, which is shocking to say the least, especially in the backdrop where we had a reasonable series against South Africa, I had no intention to quitting and running way from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being only a dozen games away. Furthermore as an obligation of a player I will keep working hard in all aspects of the game and will be available to represent Sri Lanka at any given time with my fullest. I also believe that if the selectors and coach are of the view that I am unfit to play ODI and T20 cricket and thus not entitled for my place in the team, I would also consider retiring from the ODI and T20 formats as I never want to be a burden to the team. I have played the game true to my conscience and have given my best at all times and have felt that I am fit enough to play the formats and also have performed adequately over a period of time to hold my place in the team. You will know that I was also the overall highest run scorer in the South Africa series from both teams.In the given circumstances I thus resign as the Captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team with immediate effect in considering the request of the selection committee and the coach to resign. I thank the selectors and the National Coach for speaking to me in person and conveying your thoughts in respect of the Asia Cup and giving me the opportunity to step down in this manner.I wish all the successes to our National Cricket team and all of you.Best wishes,Angelo Mathews

Starc, who has not played a T20I since 2016, has been drafted into the side as India look to level the T20I series in Sydney

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan24-Nov-20183:23

Kartik: Chahal is a match-winner in T20Is

Big Picture

The rain has followed Australia’s T20Is around: the one-off match against South Africa was reduced to a T10, the opening game against India had overs lopped off, and in Melbourne the contest didn’t get beyond the first innings as showers teased everyone that they would allow a resumption.On balance, the rain allowed Australia to get away with it in Melbourne and denied India a great opportunity to level the series. Now, the best India can get is a share of the spoils in Sydney. At the Gabba, Australia’s batting found its stride – particularly between Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis – but India managed to return some blows before the rain at the MCG.Captain Aaron Finch went for a first-ball duck and Glenn Maxwell was defeated by Krunal Pandya, a significant response from the spinner who had been dispatched by Maxwell two nights earlier. Although he was the most expensive of the India’s bowlers, Khaheel Ahmed again caught the eye with his variations of pace. Now all this series needs is a solid few hours of dry weather.

Form guide

(last five completed matches)Australia WLLLL
India LWWWW

In the spotlight

Aaron Finch‘s output has gone south since the promising start to his Test career with a top score of 41 in 10 innings. They have all been white-ball knocks so their significance for a return to red-ball cricket may not be huge, but at a time of enough uncertainty in Australia’s Test top-order they don’t need another headache. The Sheffield Shield match next week shapes as more important in setting up Finch’s form heading into the first Test, but a few out of the middle at the SCG wouldn’t go amiss.It was the below-par performance of three of India’s top four which cost them in Brisbane and they didn’t have the chance to make amends in Melbourne. KL Rahul is currently slotted in at No. 3, ahead of Virat Kohli, which puts increasing onus on him not to eat up deliveries. His 13 off 12 balls in a hefty chase was therefore far from ideal with the world’s finest white-ball batsman behind.

Team news

Australia have called up Mitchell Starc, who has not played a T20I since 2016, as a replacement for Billy Stanlake who injured his ankle in the warm-ups moments before the toss in Melbourne. D’Arcy Short has struggled in his three T20Is this season with 21 runs off 28 balls but there are no other specialist batting options.Australia (probable) 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 D’arcy Short, 3 Chris Lynn, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ben McDermott, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Nathan Coulter-Nile/Mitchell Starc, 9 Andrew Tye, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Jason BehrendorffThe only debate for India would again appear to be if they want to get Yuzvendra Chahal into the XI. It’s tough with the balance of side they have, but the success of Kuldeep Yadav may yet make it tempting.India (probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 KL Rahul, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Khaleel Ahmed/Yuzvendra Chahal

Pitch and conditions

The Sheffield Shield pitch used a couple of weeks ago was slow and Sydney’s surfaces have not had much pace in recent times. The city has experienced strong winds and dust storms in recent days, but the forecast is better for Sunday and there is no rain forecast.

Stats and Trivia

• The only previous T20I between the two teams at the SCG was a memorable encounter as India chased down 198 off the final ball in 2016.
• Since the T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe, Australia’s batsmen have scored two-half-centuries in seven matches: Short’s 68 not out against UAE and Maxwell’s 52 against Pakistan in Dubai.
• For bowlers with 30+ wickets in T20Is, Kuldeep Yadav has the second lowest average (12.78) behind Rashid Khan and the best strike-rate.
• Mitchell Starc’s last T20I on home soil was against England at the SCG in February 2014

  Quotes

Dowrich and Holder’s unbroken 79-run stand repairs West Indies after fast bowlers scythe through top order on a lively Kensington Oval deck

Shashank Kishore and Sreshth Shah23-Jun-2018Shane Dowrich swivels into a hook•CWI Media

For the second time this series, Sri Lanka’s fast bowlers had West Indies on the mat, only to concede the advantage as the day progressed. The thorn on both occasions was Shane Dowrich, the spunky wicketkeeper-batsman who stayed unbeaten on 60, at the end of the first day at the Kensington Oval that saw only 46.3 overs being bowled because of rain interruptions.In Port-of-Spain, he put on 90 for the sixth wicket with Jason Holder to set up a tall first-innings score in a match-winning effort. In Bridgetown, in the Caribbean’s first ever pink-ball Test, the pair’s unbroken 79-run stand revived West Indies from a hopeless 53 for 5 to 132 for 5 at stumps. This after Holder elected to bat on what wicketkeeper-turned-broadcaster Jeff Dujon described as “the greenest Barbados surface” he had seen.Green as it was, there were patches of brown on either ends that made life difficult for batsmen, with certain deliveries rearing up and adding to the unpredictability of the pink ball. This made the sixth-wicket association all the more compelling, as they provided a batting lesson for their floundering top order, who kept an agile slip cordon busy all afternoon.Dowrich’s seventh Test fifty was his second 50-plus score of the series, after his maiden Test century in the first Test. He was particularly severe on the short ball, unafraid to pull in front of square, particularly off Lahiru Kumara – whose fastest delivery was clocked at 148.1kph. Holder, meanwhile, was solid and composed to make a steady 33. The pair’s calculated approach, particularly under lights, stood out, even though Sri Lanka could claim the day as their own.Leading in Dinesh Chandimal’s absence was Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka’s 16th Test captain, and he couldn’t have asked for a better bargain. A surface prepared largely keeping in mind the longevity of the pink ball played right into his hands as he struck in the very first over – Devon Smith’s feeble poke at an away-going delivery lapped up at third slip by Dhananjaya de Silva.This was just the start of a procession, as Lakmal would strike again in his third over when Kraigg Brathwaite received an unplayable delivery that reared up and had him arching back to try and get out of the way. The ball lobbed off the glove even as an athletic Danushka Gunathilaka, replacing Chandimal, ran in a couple of paces from point and then extended a full-stretch dive to pluck an outstanding catch. Five balls later, Lahiru Kumara was in the thick of things as Kieran Powell’s jab resulted in an excellent grab by Kusal Mendis at second slip. Once again, the ball was dying on Mendis but a swift movement to his right made it look much easier. West Indies were now reeling at 8 for 3.Roston Chase walked out to a packed cordon of three slips and two gullies, the ball buzzing across the surface at lively speeds. His previous Test at this venue produced a match-winning 131 against Pakistan last year, against an attack consisting of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah. Now, he had to contend with an attack that isn’t as skilled yet, but potent nonetheless on a surface with enough assistance.After driving on the up through covers, Chase fell into his own trap: a repeat to a delivery that nipped in sharply resulting in Kasun Rajitha flattening his middle stump in his very first over, to leave West Indies gasping.Shai Hope, who swept the Cricket West Indies annual awards couple of nights ago, came out looking to survive, and in doing so was sometimes even diffident in his 49-ball stay that produced 11. He would fall in the third over of the second session, the 24th of the innings, when Rajitha drew him into the drive with one that left him as Dhananjaya dived in front of the first slip to complete the catch.The wickets falling around him briefly forced Dowrich to adopt an all-attack approach. The first misjudgment was to a Lakmal delivery, which was slightly full, as an attempted pull lobbed off a leading edge to elude point. Then, an ugly hoick off spinner Dilruwan Perera looped over backward point. With two half-chances going his way, he tightened up to play copy-book cricket in his captain’s company, the pair’s 33-run graft interrupted by a 107-minute rain delay.After play resumed, the Sri Lankan attack seemed to have lost some steam. Dowrich and Holder imposed themselves to pick up quick and easy runs to seemingly put West Indies on the road to recovery, even though plenty of work lay ahead.

Ryan Higgins left Middlesex for Gloucestershire in search of more white-ball opportunities and he put his Championship debut to immediate good use

ECB Reporters Network15-Apr-2018
ScorecardRyan Higgins bowling for Middlesex in 2017•Getty Images

Gloucestershire’s bid to complete a Specsavers County Championship win inside five sessions over Kent was scuppered when rain stopped play in Canterbury with the visitors 47 runs short of their victory target with nine wickets in hand.Chasing a modest target of 108 for victory over their Division 2 rivals, Gloucestershire had reached 61 for 1 after 15.5 overs when showers and bad light forced the teams from the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence to ruin west country hopes of wrapping up victory in this rain-delayed game with a day to spare.On a Canterbury pitch enlivened by heavy midweek rain that waterlogged the outfield and led to the loss of the game’s first four sessions, it was Gloucestershire’s seam bowlers who fared best in twice skittling the hosts for an aggregate match total of 174.

“Wicket suited me” – Higgins

Ryan Higgins (Gloucestershire): “The wicket was suited to my sort of bowling, it was ideal for the slower, swing bowlers and the blokes who pitch it up there. The pitch was a little dryer today and wasn’t nipping about as much, but there was still plenty in it if you hit the right areas.
“I bowled quite a lot at Middlesex last year but am really enjoying this experience playing four-day cricket for Gloucestershire. We’re in a good position here but we still have to knock these runs off.”

Gareth Roderick’s gritty 51 helped Gloucestershire secure a valuable first-innings lead of 46, after which Ryan Higgins held a swing-bowling masterclass, taking 5 for 22 to dismiss Kent for 110 second time around.It was a great Championship debut for Higgins with Gloucestershire – a county he chose to join from Middlesex in search of precisely this sort of opportunityContrasting knocks from Daniel Bell-Drummond, who hit 61 from 63 balls with 10 fours and six, and a patient 32 in a shade over two hours by Zak Crawley, marginally saved Kentish face, but the domination of Gloucestershire’s bowlers continued thereafter as Dan Worrall and Matt Taylor claimed two wickets apiece in a controlled and skilled display of seam and swing-bowling in helpful conditions.Bell Drummond’s demise – his was the 11th of 15 lbw decisions in the match to date – sparked Kent’s second collapse in as many days as five wickets fell for 24 runs in 10 overs either side of lunch. Kent’s acting captain Joe Denly bagged a pair, Darren Stevens departed without scoring soon after then, with a single to his name, Will Gidman nicked to the keeper to complete a miserable performance against his former county as Kent succumbed in 48.3 overs.The visitors started the fourth and final innings of the match 30 minutes before Sunday’s tea interval and soon lost Chris Dent to a Matt Henry inswinger that rearranged the left-hander’s stumps.It proved a false dawn for Kent fans however, as Benny Howell (34*) and the visitors’ first-innings top-scorer, Gareth Roderick (11*), dug in after the interval to post an unbroken half-century stand that only the inclement weather could halt.As if to rub salt in Kent wounds, they also lost seamer Grant Stewart two deliveries into his third over of the afternoon with a recurrence of a hamstring problem that ruled him out of last week’s final pre-season friendly against Surrey.At the start of day three, Kent needed only six deliveries to mop up the final two wickets of Gloucestershire’s first innings.Henry, the Black Cap paceman snared Worrall leg before with a skidding first delivery of the day, then last man Taylor was well held low at first slip as Henry marked his county debut with 4 for 33.Stevens celebrated his 200th first-class appearance for the club with three for 19, while Stewart, Gidman and debutant Harry Podmore bagged a wicket apiece.Weather permitting, Gloucestershire appear destined to complete a deserved victory on day four, leaving Kent with plenty to ponder after their dismal showing in this opening fixture of the domestic season.

The visitors might have had a stronger advantage still but for two aberrant dismissals before lunch

Paul Edwards at Headingley28-May-2019
The best games of cricket are strewn with the evitable. Annihilations by teams untouched by fallibility rarely make good watching. Seldom, though, does a game pivot quite as sharply as this contest just before lunchtime when Hampshire’s methodical pursuit of Yorkshire’s first-innings total of 181 was thrown awry by two dismissals the nature of which was completely out of character with the cricket that had preceded them.By close of play, which was delayed by a long rain-break in mid-afternoon, Sam Northeast’s fifth fifty in eight Championship innings and James Fuller’s canny 54 not out had served to blur the memory of the morning’s play; this is exactly the sort of match critics mean when they complain about cricket’s complexity. But the counterfactuals exercised an unusual fascination and some pondered what the game might have looked like had Ajinkya Rahane not lost his wicket and Rilee Rossouw his marbles.We are being too harsh, perhaps. Nevertheless, a session which had followed an enthralling if predictable course suddenly veered into eccentricity half an hour before lunch. It began at 12.40 when Steve Patterson brought Dom Bess into the attack. Hampshire were 80 for 2 and had lost only Joe Weatherley, brilliantly caught at slip by a leaping Adam Lyth for 14. Then, as if goaded by the introduction of spin, Rahane came down the wicket to Bess and was clumsily stumped by a fumbling Jonny Tattersall for 31. Rahane’s thinking was relatively clear: rather in the fashion of many Indian batsmen, he was unwilling to let a spinner settle. Nevertheless, the dismissal still seemed something of a waste.But such rational analysis was not possible with Rossouw’s demise, albeit his innings began in relatively conventional fashion with a single off Bess. David Willey then bowled the next over. Rossouw drove his first ball through point before whacking the fifth over mid-off for a huge six. Then as if intent on disproving the schoolmaster’s maxim that you can’t hit every ball to the boundary, Rossouw tried to pull the next ball but only skied it miles into the air off the top edge. The chance was well taken by Tom Kohler-Cadmore at slip as other close fielders and wicketkeeper scattered.”Who knows the secret of the Black Magic box?” asked a rather sultry voice in a chocolates advertisement in the 1970s. Alternatively, spectators at Headingley this morning might have been wondering what goes on in batsmen’s heads when they are going about their work.The dismissals of Rahane and Rossouw left Yorkshire with the advantage from the morning’s play. That ascendancy was strengthened shortly after lunch when Tom Alsop was snaffled at slip by Lyth off Duanne Olivier and Northeast was leg before for 50 when shaping to playing Ben Coad across the line. Northeast is making the business of batsmanship look rather simple at the moment; one wonders what is going on inside a cricketer’s head at those times, too.But Hampshire are made of resolute stuff this season. Their new coach, Adi Birrell, is challenging every member of his squad to contribute before the start of every day’s play, so perhaps it was appropriate that the player who answered the call this afternoon would not have been in the XI had Kyle Abbott not strained a calf in Saturday’s Royal London Cup final.Fuller is a shrewd batsman who clearly knows the shots he can play. His half-century included three sixes, one of them carved over third man and the other two hit straight. More significantly from Birrell’s perspective, he helped Ian Holland add 37 runs for the seventh wicket and Keith Barker put on 27 for the eighth, stands which saw Hampshire take a first-innings lead. (Holland and Barker’s contributions also meant that ten batsmen have reached double figures in this match without making 20.) Mason Crane and even the last man, Fidel Edwards, also did their bits although both were bowled by Coad when play resumed after a long break for rain.The Yorkshire openers survived three overs before close of play which arrived at nearly seven o’clock after one of those days when the early overs of the morning seemed distant indeed. Yet it would be a shame if anyone forgot the astonishing athleticism of Lyth who leapt backwards from second slip to complete a one-handed catch after the ball had looped up off Weatherley’s bat and shoulder. Those were clearly the deflections identified by Rob Bailey; Weatherley’s downcast look and his slow amble back to the pavilion suggested he thought no bat had been involved.The old sweats will say that if Hampshire’s opener is in doubt as to what happened, he need only look in the scorebook. But sweats of whatever vintage will recall Lyth’s catch deep into the winter; and they may also look forward to the next act of a drama whose outcome remains quite uncertain. This may indeed be the type of game critics identify when complaining about cricket’s complexity. But it is also the sort of contest which enthrals the rest of us.

India’s spin allrounders add 99 runs in the session – 100 for their partnership – to erase England’s lead

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2025

Ravindra Jadeja celebrates his fifty as Washington Sundar looks on•AFP/Getty Images

Tea Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja batted through the afternoon session, frustrating England and helping India creep towards a doughty draw. Washington and Jadeja both made battling half-centuries as England’s bowlers toiled without reward, adding exactly 100 in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership that took India into the lead.Washington batted at No. 8 in India’s first innings, below Shardul Thakur, but was promoted to No. 5 for the first time in their second. He brought up his half-century by hooking Ben Stokes for six, then pulling him for four, and Jadeja raised his later in the same over thanks to Zak Crawley’s misfield.Dropped first-ball by Joe Root at slip off Jofra Archer’s bowling, Jadeja brought out his trademark sword celebration to mark his fifth half-century in his last six innings. He also became the seventh Indian – and the third this week, following KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant – to reach 1,000 Test runs in England.England’s close fielders were occasionally excited by tight leaves or half-chances, but there were far fewer genuine opportunities than they would have anticipated. Liam Dawson and Root both wheeled away between spells from the four seamers, but found little joy from a pitch which has not deteriorated as much as they must have hoped.India’s slender lead means that England will have to chase down a target if they do manage to run through the lower order, but the draw is the clear favourite. The two captains could shake hands at the start of the last hour if they wish, though Stokes will be reluctant to accept what would be only the second draw of his tenure as captain.

The time was right to stop, says Gould, as he calls time on a 13-year career as a match official

Nagraj Gollapudi in Leeds07-Jul-2019Ian Gould walked out of a cricket field one last time whistling. That whistle was something you could always see ‘Gunner’, as Gould was known to cricketers and the media, do, whether in the middle of a high-pressure situation in an international match or as you passed him. Like many famous umpires, Gould was a popular personality, both on and off the field.On Saturday, Gould retired from umpiring, having stood in the World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka at Headingley. It was his 140th ODI as an umpire and he drew the curtains on a 13-year career.Gould, who played 18 ODIs for England and was part of the 1983 World Cup, joined the ECB’s first-class umpires’ list in 2002 and made his debut as an international umpire in a T20 between England and Sri Lanka in 2006. He stood in his first ODI a few days after that and his first Test – between South Africa and Bangladesh in Bloemfontein – two years later. This year’s World Cup was his fourth.”The time was right (to stop),” Gould said on his decision to retire. “I’ve had a great year and I’ve enjoyed it. I thought the time now is to move on and let someone else come through.”The last batsman Gould gave out in his career, although not on his own initially, was Rishabh Pant. In the 42nd over of India’s chase, Sri Lanka’s left-arm quick Isuru Udana bowled a slower ball that beat Pant and struck him in front of the stumps. Gould hardly moved in response to the lbw appeal but Sri Lanka opted for a review and once replays showed three reds, Gould had to change his decision and raise his finger.