Disconsolate Angelo Mathews calls loss to Zimbabwe one of the lowest points of his career

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews described the home ODI series loss to minnows Zimbabwe ‘one of the lowest points of his career’. Zimbabwe started the series by producing a record-breaking chase of 317 but most people thought that it was merely a flash in the pan. That the Zimbabweans will end up winning the series by 3-2 calls for a lot of acknowledgement and recognition of their grit and determination.

After winning the first ODI, the visitors succumbed to two consecutive losses and were on the verge of losing the series. The African nation then scripted one of the most remarkable comebacks to win the last two games to record their first series win in Sri Lanka. Chasing a modest 204, the Zimbabweans began briskly and eventually got to the target with 71 balls to spare and 3 wickets in hand.

Mathews said that they misread the wicket but did not want to look for excuses. “It’s one of the lowest points in my career, and a hard one to swallow,” Mathews was quoted by ESPNCricinfo. “Everything went against us, from the toss to misreading the wicket. But there are no excuses. At the end of the day, we were not good enough to beat them. They played better cricket.”

Mathews hints at stepping down as captain

Mathews, who missed international cricket for almost a year because of an injury, led Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Champions Trophy. While they beat India famously at The Oval, the Islanders were knocked out in the first round itself as they succumbed to losses against Pakistan and South Africa. The all-rounder is 30 years old but is already contemplating about giving up the captaincy.

“Still haven’t thought about stepping down,” he said. “There’s time. I’ll give it a bit more thought and talk to the selectors. I haven’t decided anything yet.”

With the World Cup just under two years away, Mathews must decide if he wants to lead Sri Lanka in another global event soon. While he was away from the side, the Sri Lankans struggled and haven’t won a single series in 2017. Mathews has led them to memorable series win in England and a home series win against the mighty Australians.

‘Indian series will be tougher’

He acknowledged that the batting was great in the first four games but failed to make an impact when it mattered the most in the final game.

“We did well with the bat in the last four games, but this game we were awful with the bat. If we could have got to 235, we could have done well. It was a flop today. There was some turn for the spinners in the beginning, but our eventual score wasn’t enough. We have a lot of improvements to make.”

Zimbabwe will play a solitary Test before they fly back home. Sri Lanka, after playing the Zimbabweans, will take on India at home which will be a sterner challenge. Mathews said that his team needs to fix the problems as soon as possible.

“We have an India series coming up, but before that, we have the Test against Zimbabwe to talk about. The Indian series will be even tougher. In a small period, we have to fix our problems. As a team, we did do the training, but nothing is working in the middle.”