Personal Life

Mathews was born in Colombo to Tamil father Tyronne Mathews and Burgher mother Monica Mathews. Mathews is Roman Catholic and was educated at St. Joseph's College, Colombo.

Angelo Mathews Family Mathews is married to his longtime partner Heshanie Silva. The wedding reception was held on July 18, 2013 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in the presence of former President Mahinda Rajapakse. They have a son and a daughter.

Domestic Career

Mathews made his List A debut for the Sri Lanka U23s against New Zealand A at the Police Park Ground in Colombo in September 2005. He captained the Sri Lankan cricket team at the 2006 Sri Lanka U-19 Cricket World Cup. He later made his first-class debut for Colombo Cricket Club in November 2006.

In Indian Premier League cricket, he played for the Delhi Daredevils in the 2017 Indian Premier League season. One of the most sought-after players in the Premier League world, he was bought by the Pune Warriors for $950,000.

In March 2018, he was named the captain of Kandy's roster for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. He was also named the captain of Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament the following month.

In August 2018, he was named the captain of Kandy's 2018 SLC T20 League squad. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Colombo Kings for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League.

International Career
Impressive Start

Mathews began his international career in late 2008 with ambitions to become a true all-rounder, but has since prioritized his batting (to lighten his workload and avoid injury) and plays effectively as a specialist batsman on the Test team. However, for the balance of the team, he still plays as a batting all-rounder in limited overs cricket. A more than useful batting average of 84.06 has made him a dangerous contender in the final overs of the Sri Lankan innings.

He made his international debut in a One Day International against Zimbabwe in November 2008 and made his Test debut against Pakistan in Galle in July 2009.

Angelo Mathews made his Test debut in the 2009 Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka. The test also marked the debuts of Abdur Rauf, Mohammad Amir and Saeed Ajmal. He scored his first half-century in the third test of the series, played at the Sinhala Sports Club Ground in Colombo. His first ton came in September 2011 at the same location against Australia. Mathews has an average record on tests in countries like Australia, South Africa and India, but has had limited opportunities to improve on them. His brilliant records at home and in countries like England and the United Arab Emirates make up for it. Two of his four centuries came in England - against a high-profile tempo attack consisting of James Anderson and Stuart Broad - in the famous Sri Lanka tour of England and Ireland in 2014. He also thrived with the added responsibilities of captaincy, averaging 86 .62 inch 13 games.

In February 2013, Mathews became Sri Lanka's youngest Test captain at the age of 25 after two years of preparation for the post. He captained the Lankan team in their monumental Test series win in England (2014). His highest test score (200 balls out of 428) came in the first game against Zimbabwe 2020.

Captain in all Formats (2013–2017)

After Kumar Sangakkara stepped down as ODI captain after the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, Mathews was widely dubbed as Sri Lanka's next limited-over captain. However, brief tenures followed from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene. Following Sri Lanka's defeat in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final, skipper Jayawardene resigned as captain of the T20I team. Later that month, Mathews was appointed T20I captain with Lasith Malinga as his second-in-command. In February 2013, Mathews was finally named as ODI and Test Captain, succeeding Jayawardene.

Mathews became a key member of the Sri Lanka One Day Team during the 2010/11 Sri Lanka tour of Australia. In the first match on November 3, 2010, Mathews had a great match, winning 77* runs in partnership with Lasith Malinga, who also had his only half century. Sri Lanka was in trouble getting into the crease but eventually won the match. In that match, Mathews, along with Malinga, recorded the highest ninth wicket partnership in ODI history by scoring 132 runs for the ninth wicket.

His 80* batting against Pakistan in Colombo was nominated by ESPNCricinfo as one of the best ODI batting performances of the year.

Angelo Mathews Cricinfo He was selected by ESPNCricinfo in the 2nd XI of the 2014 ICC World T20 Cup.

Mathews beat England back-to-back centuries at Lord's and Headingley to seal Sri Lanka's first-ever Test series win in England. Under him, Sri Lanka also won the ODI series 3-2. The England tour was followed by a 2-0 home win over Pakistan where Mathews and his team secured a successful farewell to the Tests for Mahela Jayawardene.

On November 16, 2014, Mathews scored his first ODI century against India at Ranchi. He hit four limits and ten giant sixes but eventually ended up in the losers bracket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli. However, under the captaincy of Mathews, he lost all games in 5 ODI series against India in 2014. This is Sri Lanka's biggest defeat in a bilateral series.

The year 2014 was the limelight of Mathews captaincy in which Sri Lanka won many bilateral ODI series and also the 2014 Asia Cup. That year, he became the top ODI captain with 20 wins from 32 games and 62.50% win percentage. For his performances in 2014 he was named Captain of the World Test XI by ICC. He was also named in the Cribbuzz XI of the year.

On 11 March 2015, during the final Pool A match at the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Scotland, Mathews scored the fastest fifty by a Sri Lankan at World Cups and the third fastest ODI fifty by a Sri Lankan after Sanath Jayasuriya and Kusal Perera. His fifty came from just 20 balls where it includes 5 sixes and 1 four.

Mathews was able to take the team under his captaincy to the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Cup, where they lost the quarterfinals to South Africa on March 18, 2015. This defeat was Sri Lanka's first defeat at World Cups since 2003, without reaching for the semi-finals.
Mathews became the fourth Sri Lankan all-rounder to win 100 ODI wickets with more than 3000 ODI runs after Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan. On July 26, 2015, he took his 100th ODI wicket by lbw from Mohammad Hafeez.

He was also named in Cricinfo's Test XI of 2015

On March 8, 2016, Mathews was also named T20I captain due to sustained injuries sustained by Lasith Malinga. On 17 August 2016, under Mathews, Sri Lanka whitewashed captain Australia who were ranked No. 1 in the Test rankings. This was the second time in their history that Sri Lanka managed to gloss over a large Test side. Before that, in 2001, the West Indies were whitewashed under the direction of Brian Lara in three series of tests, otherwise only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

In July 2017, Sri Lanka lost a five-game ODI home series 3–2 to Zimbabwe. Matthews said the loss was "one of the lowest points of my career" and he resigned as captain of the team in all three formats the following day.

Post-Captain (2017)

On December 4, 2017, Mathews scored his eighth Test century against India. His century came during a difficult time for Sri Lanka's innings where he slowly built the innings with captain Dinesh Chandimal. Eventually, Sri Lanka was able to draw the game.

Mathews scored his second ODI hundred on December 12, 2017 in Mohali during the second ODI against India. However, his century was in vain due to Rohit Sharma's third double hundred in the earlier innings and Sri Lanka was in the hunt for mammoths with a total of 392. However, with Mathew's unbeaten century, Sri Lanka exceeded 250 after 10 ODI matches and ended up losing the game with 141 runs.

During the second T20I against India, Mathews hamstringed running in to deliver the third ball of his third over. He left the field and didn't get to bat either. With medical treatments and news, he will be out of cricket for at least two weeks.

Second Term of Captain (2018)

On January 9, 2018, less than six months after retiring from that position, Mathews was named captain for Sri Lanka for a second time at One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. He was resigned from the captaincy at the end of the Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka in 2017 after losing ODI. After many losses in all formats in 2017, new coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and the new selection committee handed the limited captaincy to Mathews for the second time.

Things did not go well for his captaincy where Sri Lanka lost the first game to Zimbabwe in Bangladesh's Tri-Series. He suffered a knee injury during the game and was eliminated from the rest of the ODI series. Dinesh Chandimal captained the team and also won the series. Initial news showed Mathews will recover for the Test series against Bangladesh but he failed to recover and was therefore dropped from the Test squad. He also missed the T20I series in which Chandimal was named T20I captain. This Bangladesh tour was the third consecutive foreign tour from which Mathews retired with a hamstring injury, having also done so in South Africa and India in 2017. In 2016 he also missed a complete tour of Zimbabwe with "several leg injuries".
In May 2018 he was one of 33 cricketers to receive a national contract from Sri Lanka Cricket ahead of the 2018–19 season.

Mathews was sacked as captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team in September 2018 after a disastrous 2018 Asia Cup campaign that saw Sri Lanka eliminated from the tournament after losing their two group matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Test captain Dinesh Chandimal was named captain of the limited overs teams to replace Mathews.

As an Anchorman

In the first Test against New Zealand in late 2018, Mathews scored his ninth Test century. Mathews, along with Kusal Mendis, batted all day four which was the fifth time the Sri Lankan pair had done so in Test history. On day five, they bet on an unbeaten double-century partnership that totals 115 wicketless overs for New Zealanders. As the rain stopped, the game ended in a draw. The partnership of 246 was also Sri Lanka's highest for any wicket against New Zealand and also Sri Lanka's highest in the second innings of a Test. It was the first time a Sri Lankan pair had surpassed 200 runs in the second innings of a Test outside of Asia.

In the second Test, Mathews injured his hamstring strain while batting with Chandimal. He was immediately sent for medical scans and didn't get to batting after tea. Sri Lanka eventually lost the match and the series 1-0. He was also dropped from the ODI tour and the upcoming Australian tour.

In April 2019 he was called up to Sri Lanka's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. After consecutive 0,0,9 misses with the racquet at the World Cup, Mathews found his form again in the pool game against England. He hit an unbeaten 85 runs for a total of 232. With veteran Malinga's bowling performance, Sri Lanka won the game by 20 runs. During the game, Mathews scored his 12,000. International match for Sri Lanka. During the game against West Indies on July 1, 2019, Mathews surprisingly called for throwing the 48th over. Taking the wicket from Nicolas Pooran, who was on 118, he was ready to lead the West Indies to victory. Mathews, hadn't even bowled the nets in 8 months. On July 6, 2019 against India, Mathews scored his third century where all of his three centuries now came against India. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by 7 wickets.

Mathews was included in the T20I series against India in January 2020. It was his first T20I appearance in 16 months. He played in the third T20I on January 10, 2020 and also started balling. However, he finished with expensive numbers of 38 runs in three overs without a wicket. With the racquet, he scored 31 runs and Sri Lanka eventually lost the match and series.

On January 22, 2020, Mathews scored his first double hundred in the first Test against Zimbabwe. He went unbeaten for 200 runs in 465 balls in 600 minutes at center. His double hundred is the first double hundred scored by a Sri Lankan in five years after Sangakkara's double in 2015. Eventually, Sri Lanka won the game by 10 wickets and Mathews won the man of the match.

Sri Lanka drew the second Test on the second inning of Kusal Mendis' unbeaten century to seal the series 1-0. Mathews won the Player of the Series award and became the top scorer in the series. Mathews hit 277 runs on a double hundred and fifty for a 138.50 average.

During the third ODI against the West Indies, Mathews delivered a game-winning bowling spell. He has bowled all 10 overs in the match since July 2015 due to Premier Pacer Nuwan Pradeep's injury. He took 4 for 59 where he rolled over penultimate to win the game for Sri Lanka by 6 runs. He won the Man of the Match award for match-winning bowling performance.

In the first friendly of the 2021 England tour of Sri Lanka, Mathews scored his 6,000 friendly runs. In the second innings, he scored his 36th Test half-century. He hit 71 carries for 219 balls and 344 minutes on the crease just to hit four limits. His patient innings helped put Sri Lanka ahead but England won the match by 7 wickets.

During Day One of Sri Lanka vs England 1st Test 2021 of the Sri Lankan innings when they already two down, Mark Wood was bowling over 90mph and as he broke Angelo Mathews bat in to two pieces. Apparently, Mathews had to get his bat replaced.

In the second Test match of the 2021 England tour of Sri Lanka, Mathews scored his 11th Test century. It was Mathews' 1st Test tone on home soil since 2015 and his first Test tone at the Gall International Cricket Stadium. He hit 110 runs and hit 11 limits to bring the team a big total in the first innings. He is the highest goalscorer for Sri Lanka in this series. But England won the match by 6 wickets and also won the series.

Captain 2021

On 27 February 2021 Mathews was appointed Sri Lanka's substitute captain for the T20I series in the West Indies as appointed captain Dasun Shanaka who was delayed in obtaining a US transit visa and traveling with the team at the time. Under Mathews captain, Sri Lanka managed to win only their second T20I where West Indies won the series 2-1. At batting, he had a poor outing where he went 5, 13 and 11 in three games. Meanwhile, after the first ODI in the series, he immediately left the West Indies tour for personal reasons, citing his daughter's critical health.

Criticism

With three legends (Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Dilshan) retiring from international cricket, the team has had a rough time in many bilateral series in all formats. They also lost the Asia Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy very cheaply, falling to 8th and 7th in the rankings as well. With all these, Bangladesh toured Sri Lanka and drew all formats, while Zimbabwe also recorded their first straight win against Sri Lanka and the Mathews captain was criticized for his losses for many reasons. Despite suffering multiple injuries during his captaincy career and being replaced by Upul Tharanga in many winning notes, reporters suggested Mathews will not captain the Cricket World Cup until 2019.

Mathews was heavily criticized for running between the wickets. Sri Lanka coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said Mathews has been involved in more than 64 runouts in the last two years, more than the second worst. Of those 64, about 45 times, the batsman folded at the other end, where Hathurusinghe suggested it's a world record. Hathurusingha and the selectors claimed Mathews lacked the "cricket fitness" to play 50 overs and then run effectively between wickets.

Retirement

On 7 July 2021, Mathews announced he was considering retiring from all formats of international cricket as he had not signed the tour deal with SLC for the limited overs series against India and he complained about the senior's unethical treatment by management players on the team. His decision is mainly due to the salary dispute with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and also SLC's intention to eliminate several senior national team players from the limited overs games in order to promote the young players and give them chances at the 2023 World Cup giving in focus.

Beyond Cricket

In July 2021, he announced that he was interested in taking on a big responsibility to find donors for a social service project titled Little Hearts, which is also a national fundraising project being initiated to raise a heart and soul Intensive care complex to build in the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children which is located in Colombo. He was inspired to get involved in the Little Hearts fundraiser after acknowledging how the doctors and nurses had treated his daughter who had been admitted to LRH hospital with illness.

Records and Statistics

Highest ninth wicket partnership – 132 by Angelo Mathews (77) and Lasith Malinga (56) against Australia in November 2010.
Most wins in 2014 as captain – Under the captaincy of Mathews, Sri Lanka won 20 ODI games, lost 12 out of 32 games and the win ratio is 62.50
First cricketer to play in 50 T20I innings without registering a duck
He is the fifth Sri Lankan cricketer to reach 6000 test runs.

Awards

Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2015
Sri Lanka Cricket Cricket Player of the Year 2015