Angelo Mathews pulls out of the West Indies tour due to a family emergency
Sri Lanka's T20I captain Angelo Mathews has decided to pull out of the West Indies tour due to a family emergency. Mathews, who is currently in Antigua, is set to fly back to Sri Lanka today (March 11).
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed the same in a press release. They also posted a tweet on their official handle, the caption of which read:
"Angelo Mathews, who is currently touring the West Indies with the National Cricket Team, will return home. The purpose of his return is to attend to a family matter. Mathews will depart West Indies today."
Sri Lanka lost the T20I series 1-2 under Angelo Mathews
Earlier in the tour, Sri Lanka played a three-match T20I series against the Caribbean team. The team lost its first game but managed to bounce back with a 43-run victory in the second to level the series.
The visitors put up a tough fight in the series decider, but brilliance from Fabian Allen with the bat towards the end snatched the game away from them.
Angelo Mathews did not have any great outings in the T20Is. The 33-year-old struggled to get going with the bat and scored only 29 runs in three matches at an average of 9.67. His highest score in the series was only 13.
Mathews' poor run of form continued in the ODIs as well. The Colombo-born all-rounder was run out for five in the first ODI against West Indies. Sri Lanka went on to lose the encounter by eight wickets following Shai Hope's century.
Angelo bowled only once on this tour. He opened the bowling for his team in the first T20I but ended up leaking 19 runs.
He is also part of the 17-member squad for the two-match Test series that will start on March 21. Angelo Mathews will be missing these matches as well apart from the two ODI games set to be played on March 12 and March 14.