Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews has not been in Sri Lanka‘s team regularly in recent years due to a dip in form and aging. He’s even rarely bowled in international cricket due to multiple injuries in his career.
However, the first time Angelo Mathews came on to bowl in the World Cup 2023, he stunned the defending champions England with the wicket of opener Dawid Malan in his first over and then later on dismissed Moeen Ali. Mathews had last picked a wicket in international cricket in March 2020, before the pandemic, and had bowled only in 4 matches between 2021 and the 2023 World Cup.
In their 2019 World Cup match in Headingley, Angelo Mathews was a key man with the bat in Sri Lanka’s shock victory over England with 85 runs. Today, in Bangalore, he hurt them with two wickets with the ball until the time of writing, and affected a brilliant run-out of Joe Root.
Angelo Mathews was brilliant with his lines and lengths. He got the new ball to seam away from Malan just enough to take his outside edge. He then returned to have Moeen Ali caught at point. He affected a terrific run-out of Root from the point position. This all was part of England’s collapse from 45/0 to 122/6.
Mathews was drafted into Sri Lanka’s World Cup squad as an injury replacement for fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, who suffered a shoulder injury while bowling against Pakistan and is ruled out of the rest of the tournament.
This led to a spate of memes on social media and trolling of the England team.
Memes on the return of Angelo Mathews against England:
Run out of Root by Angelo Mathews:
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Teams:
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka
England (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
