Former cricketer Michael Vaughan lauded veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews’ fighting knock during Sri Lanka’s second innings against England in the first Test.
During the second innings, Sri Lanka started terribly as they lost two of their top-order batters, Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis, without scoring any runs.
An early collapse looked certain for the visitors but Mathews came at bat at no.4 and played a valiant knock, scoring 65 runs on 145 balls with three boundaries.
Mathews’ innings helped the Lankans escape an early collapse and provided a better platform for the upcoming batters to perform.
Vaughan praised Mathews for the way he tackled the English players and ended up calling him a fighter for staying and delivering for his side when needed the most.
"I love him for that. You cannot just play one way, you get found out. In the first innings, he was back in his crease, he leaves one and he is lbw. In the second innings, he comes out of his crease. He is saying to Chris Woakes - 'you got me in the first innings, I am not going to allow you to do that two in the game'," he responded.
"He is a fighter, isn't he? That innings back in 2014 at Headingley, where Sri Lana came from nowhere to win that Test match. There was a brief moment this afternoon where I thought he is there again. Probably Joe Root is the only one who was around in 2014. He would have remembered that but I certainly remembered being at Headingley when he played that extraordinary innings," the former England captain added.
Playing XIs
England: Daniel Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake
- Angelo Mathews
