Sri Lanka's national cricket captain resigns, new captains named

By APD writer Jamila Husain

**COLOMBO, July 12 (APD) ** - Sri Lanka's national cricket captain, Angelo Mathews, on Wednesday announced his resignation as captain from all three forms of cricket - One Day International's, Test Cricket and T20's after Sri Lanka suffered a loss against Zimbabwe in a recently concluded ODI series.

Angelo Mathews

In a media briefing held in capital Colombo, Mathews said the loss suffered against Zimbabwe which ended on Tuesday with Zimbabwe winning 3-2, was the lowest point in his cricketing career and after deep consideration he decided to resign as the captain in all formats.

"Furthermore I was also very mindful that my resignation at this juncture would ensure sufficient time given to my successor to the national team for the next ICC world cup in 2019," Mathews said stressing that the team had to be prepared before then.

Mathews thanked all his team mates and Sri Lanka Cricket for the strong support handed over to him during his tenure as the captain. "The entire team and nation has backed me during my time as the captain. For that I thank everyone," Mathews said.

Following Mathews resignation, Chief Selector of Sri Lanka Cricket, Sanath Jayasuriya announced at the media briefing that Dinesh Chandimal had been appointed as Sri Lanka's new Test captain and Upul Tharanga had been appointed as ODI Captain and T20 Captain.

Sri Lanka's national cricket team has been on the receiving end after an early exit from the recently concluded Champions Trophy and with Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara accusing players of being unfit and over weight to compete on an international arena.

Players have been given three months to get in shape or leave the team.

Just last week, Head Coach of the Sri Lanka national cricket team, Graham Ford, also announced he would be stepping down from his post following rumours of a sour relationship with the Sri Lanka Cricket board due to unacceptable intrusions into team matters by the Sri Lanka Cricket board.

Cricket is a popular sport in Sri Lanka amongst its 20 million population. The sport is played in almost all the schools with yearly tournaments conducted in the island country.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)