It’s never a nice feeling when your favourite cricketers call it time, especially when they’re someone who always seemed to be part of the furniture within their team.
In 2025, it appears to be the year of men’s Asian Test cricket retirements, with India’s Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravi Ashwin bidding adieu in the wake of their failed Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign.
This contagious disease soon spread to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as veterans Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, and opening batter Dimuth Karunaratne all made their farewells earlier this year.
When Angelo Mathews announced his retirement from Tests, a part of me knew it was coming (he is 38 now) however I could not hide the quiet and hollow sadness I felt knowing this colossus of Sri Lankan cricket was about to hang up his boots, as his country continues to navigate a future without such giants propping them up to remain competitive at the highest level.
It has been more than a week since Mathews graced Galle International Stadium for the final time in that first Test against Bangladesh, and whilst cricket headlines become old very quickly, I needed a moment to truly reflect on the gargantuan amount of work he has done for Sri Lanka in the red-ball game.
I have always been a big fan of Mathews ever since he burst onto the Test cricket scene in July 2009. He debuted on the same ground that he retired from and impressed immediately, scoring a well-compiled 42 in Galle against Pakistan amidst a fierce fast-bowling barrage from Mohammad Amir and Umar Gul.
His talent with the bat was obvious, as his ability to whip anything to the legside for quick runs showed that he was a busy player who refused to get bogged down. Mathews also displayed his all-round abilities with the ball; his probing medium-pacers doing enough to claim his maiden Test scalp, that of Pakistan legend Younis Khan.
He ended up trapping him again for LBW in the visitors’ second innings, and it was apparent to many that this gifted youngster from St Joseph’s College in Colombo was a special talent.
With the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan all coming to the end of their Test careers in the early-to-mid 2010s, Sri Lankan fans were feeling uncertain of how their team would compete in the future without these legends carrying the team.
The only viable answer to that was indeed Mathews, who continued to shine after proving himself in the white-ball arena. In November 2010 in an ODI against Australia at the MCG, Mathews pulled off an incredible heist with only Lasith Malinga and Muralitharan for support in the tail, as Sri Lanka secured a miraculous win after being eight wickets down needing over 130 runs to get.
This streetfighter performance cemented him as a future leader for Sri Lanka, as he refused to throw in the towel and give up the match despite relentless pressure from an aggressive Australian fast bowling cartel featuring Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson.
Angelo Mathews. (Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP / Getty Images)
In September 2011, Mathews showed why he truly belonged at Test level, securing his maiden ton against the Aussies in Colombo. Despite being only 24 years old at the time, he displayed immense powers of concentration and focus far beyond his youthful years, batting for almost six hours and 44 minutes in the Sri Lankan heat and remaining not out.
Not only was he an attractive stroke-maker, but also a player who had incredible match awareness and was always ready to do what was necessary to keep his team in the game. He was quickly winning the respect of the international cricket community and was earmarked as the next great messiah of Sri Lankan cricket.
It was only a matter of time before Mathews would assume Test captaincy, and at just 25 years old he became Sri Lanka’s youngest ever skipper in red-ball cricket. What followed was an unprecedented amount of success for the Sri Lankans in Tests against opponents that nobody gave them a chance of beating.
Most notable was in 2014 when they secured their maiden Test series win against England in England, a feat no one saw them achieving given the gulf in skill level of their fast-bowling resources at the time. So underrated were the Sri Lankans coming into that Test series that Michael Vaughan famously declared their bowlers as nothing more than a “glorified county attack.”
That was the fuse that stoked the fire for Mathews to lead forcefully, as he scored his first Test hundred at Lords as a young captain which helped Sri Lanka secure a gutsy draw before going on to win the second Test at Headingley by 100 runs.
That series win went on to be Sri Lanka’s first victory outside of Asia since 1995 when they defeated New Zealand in Wellington, and to this day Angelo still declares it as the finest achievement of his Test career.
More success followed, as 2013 to 2016 proved to be arguably the most fruitful chapter of Mathews’ red-ball journey. Sri Lanka was fortunate to witness him in his absolute prime and he didn’t disappoint. In 2014 Mathews accumulated a whopping 1,160 career runs in the calendar year, with two glorious hundreds and eight fifties.
Whilst defeating England was the icing on the cake, a two-nil Test series win against Pakistan at home and the three-nil whitewash of Australia in 2016 thanks to some spin bowling wizardry from Rangana Herath showed that Mathews was truly a leader who knew how to extract the best out of his players. He soon became Sri Lanka’s white-ball skipper and it was here where the burden of being an all-format leader started to take its toll.
Perhaps the point where it all went a bit downhill for Mathews were questions about his form and match-fitness in one-day and T20 cricket. He originally arrived on the scene as a batting all-rounder, however as he rose to stardom with the willow, his exploits with the ball diminished rapidly to the point where many fans would often be surprised when he was getting back a bowl in the back end of his career.
What followed was a slew of injuries and setbacks, with 2017 to 2019 being a dark time for Mathews.
He was often in and out of the team, with many wondering if he was still committed to Sri Lankan cricket like in his earlier years.
However, he quelled all those doubts, when in January 2020 he came back and scored his first double century against Zimbabwe in Harare. That knock displayed everything about the Angie of old; the graceful aggression, those majestic, lofted cover drives, his trademark wristy flicks for anything pitched slightly on the pads. Mathews in full flow was always a joy to watch, regardless of the format.
As the sun finally sets on a stellar career that started way back when Murali was still playing, I can’t help but wonder what will happen to Sri Lanka after Mathews’ retirement. He truly is the last warrior of the island’s golden age of cricketing success. He has seen it all. He helped carry Muralitharan off the field when the champion off-spinner also played his final Test match at Galle.
He was there when Sri Lanka won the 2014 T20 World Cup. He was also there when Sangakkara announced his tearful goodbye to Test cricket too. Whether they ever find an all-round cricketer of his calibre is yet to be seen, however it is undeniable that his contribution to the island’s cause to remain a force in Test match cricket has been immense.
To me Mathews embodied multiple characteristics of previous Sri Lankan legends all in one entity.
At times his batting had the artistry of Jayawardene and the dynamism of Aravinda De Silva. His monk-like concentration was akin to Sangakkara’s long vigils at the crease.
His determination and stubborn refusal to give up were reminiscent of Arjuna Ranatunga’s dogged leadership, and when required he could be incredibly explosive and turn a match around in minutes, much like the master blaster Sanath Jayasuriya.
Sri Lankan cricket will be poorer with his departure, but here’s hoping that it will inspire more triumphs for this transitional team in the years to come.