http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758’s captaincy dilemma – Is Angelo Mathews the answer - Opinion – Part 2
Contined from Part 1....
Sangakkara relinquished his role after that, but made a public plea to the board over the non-payments. He was incensed by the off-field distractions, despite the players giving their all on it. In an era where a team's prosperity is closely linked to its
board's policies and planning, the Lankans are behind times, with the senior players carrying the whole burden on their ageing shoulders.
Their importance now not only lies in numbers, and performing on a day-to-day basis, but grooming youngsters for the future. Yes, such processes have become the norm for most teams, but it can all go haywire if the team lags behind on the pitch.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978, who seemed in a perfect position to take the reins.
However, for Sri Lanka, it has been clear that the team lacks a natural leader. They handed the captaincy to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TM-Dilshan-c2691, but it not only brought a sequence of poor results, but further had an effect on Dilshan’s own performances.
Jayawardene must be given credit that he came back for a second stint, albeit reluctantly. He has indeed done an admirable job, but there is no denying that he is by large, a fluent batsman, rather than a fluent leader.
The experience gained over the years made him an obvious choice, but he took upon himself to ear-mark http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 his successor. Mathews was handed the deputy role in July last year, and though he has become a nobody with a ball in his hand, he has certainly
displayed immense ability to produce the necessary results with the bat.
Their recent Test defeat against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Muralitharan-c1864 or Lasith
Malinga to count on.
If the big guns don’t fire, they offer little. In the first Test, they were resigned on conceding a big lead before Jayawardene and Mathews steadied the ship. However, in the second game, Mathews remained their sole hope, but he too could not keep the Kiwis
from claiming a series-saving draw.
With Jayawardene, and all the other senior figures comfortably touching their mid-thirties, it has become clear, not to the board, but to Jayawardene, that time has come to assess his future. The out- going skipper has no doubt that Mathews could do the
job, but for Sri Lanka cricket, there is still a long road in terms of finding a leader who matches Ranatunga’s uncanny ability to guide the team to a second major title.
For now, Mathews is their hope, and he has the senior personnel, all of whom will make sure that he realizes the need to manage himself accordingly.
"He batted really well in the entire series - not just in Colombo but in Galle as well, where he batted under pressure," Jayawardene said at the end of the series. "He came and adapted to the situation. No. 6 is not an easy position to bat but Angelo is
a guy who seems to find that little bit of extra mental strength. That's why we've identified him as one of the future leaders. He's showing that quality, and as long as he enjoys those kinds of challenges, I think he'll be a really good captain."
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