Angelo Mathews

Angelo Mathews

Angelo Davis Mathews (born 2 June 1987) is a Sri Lankan cricketer and present captain of their T20 side. Like Chaminda Vaas he had his formal education in St. Joseph's College, Colombo. Born in Colombo, to Jaffna Tamil parents he captained the Sri Lankan cricket team team in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka.

He made his international debut in a One Day International against Zimbabwe in November 2008.

In the Indian Premier League, he originally played for the Kolkata Knight Riders team. In the fourth season of the Indian Premier League, he was contracted by Sahara Pune Warriors for US$950,000. He was ruled out of IPL, for up to 8 weeks, due to injury sustained during the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

In November 2010, he was named 'Personality of the Year' by Living Magazine in Sri Lanka.

After Kumar Sangakkara stepped down as captain following the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Mathews was widely tipped to be Sri Lanka's next captain.

Mathews has been praised by Sangakarra to having good leadership qualities; Sangakarra had also tipped him to take over as captain after his resignation. Dilshan was later named as captain. However, Mathews was strangely overlooked as vice captain, with the selectors naming Thilina Kandamby, who had not played for Sri Lanka regularly or for a prolonged period as vice captain for Sri Lanka's 2011 ODI and T20 tour of England. But the move backfired on Duleep Mendis's selection panel, when Kandamby fared miserably with the bat, forcing them to drop the new vice captain. At the end of July 2011, Mathews was named as Dilshan's vice-captain. He was retained in the role after Dilshan resigned and was replaced by Mahela Jayawardene in January 2012. After Sri Lanka's loss in the final of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, the skipper Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as captain of the T20 side. Later that month, Mathews was appointed as the T20 captain with Lasith Malinga as his deputy.