Lankan New Skipper MATHEWS...

Sri Lanka’s new Twenty20 skipper, all-rounder Angelo Mathews, has said that their finale defeat in the recently concluded World T20, against West Indies, was the result of a mental blockSLNews

 The Lankan Lions defeated the likes of England, Pakistan and West Indies to book their place in the final under Jayawardene’s captaincy. The match, which took place at the Premadasa stadium, Colombo, started with the Lankans as favorites, especially due to the home advantage. However, the Caribbean men crushed them despite having put a middling 137 on the board batting first.

While Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis did his part, racking up 4 scalps, including that of danger-man Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels took responsibility and added 78 invaluable runs to the West Indian tally. Thanks to a couple by Dwyane Bravo and a quick-fire 26 by skipper Darren Sammy, the West Indians were able to reach a par total.

Batting second, the Lankans were disappointing to say the least. With the exception of skipper Jayawardene, veteran wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara, and bowler Nuwan Kulasekara, no one reached double figures. The whole side fell for a total of 101, losing the match, and the trophy, by 36 runs.

Mathews, who took over captaincy of the Twenty20 side after veteran Mahela Jayawardene stepped down following the finale, said, “We lost the World T20 final to West Indies due to a mental factor. If we are to be successful in the future we have to get over that mental block.”

The Sri Lankans will be up against New Zealand, tomorrow, October 30, 2012, at Pallekele, which will be Mathews’ first assignment as skipper after his recent appointment. Speaking about the match, Mathews shared, “Hopefully we'll get the game going tomorrow. The toss will play a big part. If the Duckworth-Lewis rule comes into play it is always beneficial for the team to be batting second.”

The series, which will begin tomorrow, will see both sides facing each other in one Twenty20, five One Day Internationals and two Test matches, finally ending on November 29. After this, the Lankans are scheduled to visit Australia in December.

 “We have a lot of matches coming up for us. After New Zealand we go to Australia which is a big series so we need to perform well,” shared Mathews.