Angelo Mathews unsure about captaining Sri Lanka in 2019 World Cup

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews has revealed that he is unsure whether he will be leading the side at the 2019 World Cup. The team from the subcontinent has suffered their second loss to Zimbabwe in the ongoing five-match series under the leadership of Mathews and has now put his captaincy under significant pressure.

The defeat at Hambantota was the second instance in the series when Sri Lanka failed to defend 300 plus runs and the skipper has stated discontent over the lack of sting in the performance of the bowlers. Earlier this year, speculation about Mathews’ future as captain were rife after the 3-0 whitewash in South Africa.

Despite the team’s Test drubbing against the Proteas Sri Lanka Cricket has backed him to continue as captain until the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. However, following two consecutive losses against  Zimbabweans, the allrounder is contemplating his role for the 2019 WC.

“I don’t know if I will be going to the 2019 World Cup as captain,” Mathews said according to EspnCricinfo.

“Our batsmen are doing well, but sometimes there’s no consistency in our fielding – we don’t do well sometimes. But with the players that we have, we can win these matches. We lost these matches because our bowling wasn’t good. We have to solve this problem quickly,” he added.

Sri Lanka might lose automatic entry for the 2019 World Cup

The Lankan team currently has its direct qualification to the World Championships under threat. If they perform poorly in the forthcoming ODI series against India (in August and September), there is a chance that they will not be able to gain automatic entry for the 2019 WC.

Currently, Sri Lanka stands at eighth in the ICC ODI rankings, with 92 rating points. They need to stay ahead of West Indies, who are currently on 78 rating points, in order to avoid going through a separate qualification procedure for the 50 overs World Cup.