Former Sri Lanka captain, Angelo Mathews, heaped praise for Stuart Broad and said that he felt like he was playing Broad in England.
England cruised their way in the first Test match at Galle as the hosts, Sri Lanka, were bundled out for 135 runs in their first innings with a majority of the top-order falling to attacking shots.
In reply to Sri Lanka’s 135 in the first innings, the visitors on account of Joe Root’s marathon knock of 228, posted a total of 421 runs giving England a lead of 286 runs.
After conceding a lead of 286, Sri Lankan batsmen showed more application in their second innings as the hosts manage to wipe out the deficit and scored 359, setting a target of 74 to the visitors.
While chasing 74 in the fourth innings England had a shaky start, but in the end, managed to register 7 wickets victory over Sri Lanka.
With the second Test set to be played at the same venue former Sri Lankan captain, Angelo Mathews feels that a conservative approach will not necessarily equate to an improved batting show at the Galle and said it’s important to understand how to score runs off these bowlers and in these conditions.
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"It's not about being conservative. You always have to look to score runs. But you need to understand how you can score runs off these bowlers and in these conditions,” Angelo Mathews said.
Mathews said the Sri Lankan batsmen can learn a lot from Joe Root. He also admitted that they can't be as good as Root and should rather focus on applying their skillset against the English bowlers.
"The way I play is different to a Dinesh Chandimal or a Kusal Perera or a Niroshan Dickwella. We've got to find our scoring options rather than try to copy some other batsman. Joe Root played a magnificent inning and we can learn a lot from the way he batted, but sometimes the shots he played, we can't play.
We need to be able to understand what we can and what we can't do on these wickets against their bowlers." he said.
Angelo Mathews, 33, further praised England pace stalwart Stuart Broad and said that he felt like he was playing him in England because he was moving the ball.
"We all know what kind of a bowler Broad is - he's taken over 500 Test wickets and he's one of the best fast bowlers going around. On any kind of surface, the wicket was not offering anything for the fast bowlers, but he was moving the ball.
One spell I felt like I was playing in England against him because he was moving the ball. That's very difficult for a fast bowler to do in these conditions in Galle,” said Angelo Mathews.
“Even the spinners didn't give anything away. They didn't give loose deliveries at all. Even though the wicket was turning, they were trying to take wickets.
It was pure Test cricket where they held on to a line and length and we actually made a lot of mistakes by trying to go for too many shots too early off good balls, where we couldn't score off." he added.
The second Test match between Sri Lanka and England is all set to take place at Galle from Friday (22nd January).
(Cricbuzz inputs)
