Mathews feels team needs to be at their best to beat England
Jun 19, 2016 at 11:22 AM
Sri Lankan captain, Angelo Mathews feels that his teams need to play their best cricket in order to defeat England in the upcoming ODI series. Despite beating Ireland in the second ODI with a mammoth 136 run win, the skipper feels there needs a lot of improvement in all the three departments as the series against England looms.
“We still can improve a lot in all departments. It was a pretty convincing victory today, but we need to be at our best to beat England,” Mathews said.
Sri Lanka who were put into bat by Irelad after winning the toss, had a great start by the openers Kusal Perera and Gunathilaka as they posted 148 run partnership for the opening stand and Prasanna who came at No.3 scored an impressive 95 as Sri Lanka posted 377 in their 50 overs. Kusal Perera was the top scorer as he brought up his third ODI hundred with an impressive 135 which featured 16 boundaries and 2 sixes.
While chasing, Ireland were always underdogs as they lost their way for 241 which handed Sri Lanka one of the most comprehensive wins in their history.
“Perera and Danuska Gunathilaka had a brilliant opening partnership (147) and after that solid foundation it was a tactical decision to bring in the pinch-hitter and take the game forward,” Mathews said.
“It was a very good wicket and a tough ask for the bowlers but we stuck to our task. They had to bowl good lines and lengths. Having said that, after scoring 377 it was a tough ask for the Irish because they had to go at it from ball one, so we had to bowl dot balls and create pressure.”
Mathews also praised young all-rounder Dasun Shanaka who was named the man of the series after a good all-round performance as he scored 49 runs and picked up si wickets.
“Shanaka is becoming a very good all-rounder for us and hopefully he will continue in the England ODIs and for the next few years,” he said.
“We were short of seam-bowling all-rounders, but now with Farveez Maharoof, Shanaka and myself, we have plenty of options.”
Sri Lanka will now take on England in a five match ODI series with first ODI to be played at Nottingham on 21 June.