Angelo confident of bouncing back, says SLC president

Bouncing back graciously from a crushing defeat, Sri Lanka’s young Test team led by captain Angelo Mathews engaged in a lengthy discussion with president of Sri Lanka Cricket Thilanga Sumathipala yesterday afternoon. During the meeting, the captain affirmed his team’s commitment to re-strategize for the upcoming T20 and ODI series in South Africa.

The SLC president convened this emergency meeting at Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters with the participation of vice-presidents Jayantha Dharmadasa and K. Mathivanan along with chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya, coach Graham Ford, captain Mathews, team manager Ranjith Fernando, chairman of cricket committee Aravinda de Silva, SLC secretary Mohan de Silva and High Performance manager Simon Willis.

“Angelo is confident of bouncing back and winning the series,” SLC president said following the meeting.

“We believe that if you are afraid of losing, you can never have a winning team.”

While accepting and agreeing the team slip-ups and challenges faced during the recent Test series, captain Mathews remained confident with regard to the white-ball challenge asserting that the team will give their best to secure a win for the country.

The meeting according to officials of SLC, helped boost the morale of the team after having been defeated by the South Africans on foreign soil.

Sri Lanka has generally struggled to cope with the pace and seam of South Africa’s pitches, but they now have another opportunity to make a fresh beginning with a young team. South Africa and Australia are said to be among the two toughest places to tour for Sri Lanka, In 20 Tests in those countries, Sri Lanka have lost 17, and won just one - in Durban in the 2011 Boxing Day Test.

The other two big Asian teams India and Pakistan have also struggled in these countries.

India and Pakistan have a few more wins. India have also played twice as many Tests as Sri Lanka in these two countries, which has obviously given their players a better chance to adapt.

The difference between Sri Lanka’s batting and bowling averages are almost 21, which indicates how hopelessly outmatched they have been in these Tests.