Important to win, but need to build team for future as well: Mathews

Having decimated the Australians in the recently-concluded three-match Test series, Sri Lanka will look to continue their dominance in the limited overs series as well, starting on Sunday (August 21). However, much like coach Graham Ford, who had stressed on the need to build a team for the future rather than accomplish short-term goals, skipper Angelo Mathews too says that the main focus is in achieving long-term goals.


"Our long-term goal is the 2019 World Cup, but we'll try and take it series by series," Mathews said on Saturday (August 20), ahead of the first One-Day International (ODI). "Winning is important, but trying to build up a team is also important - so we'll try and strike a balance in that."
 
Much like their Test side, Sri Lanka's one-day squad boasts of several newcomers, including Avishka Fernando, a product of the Under-19 side. Avishka, the 18-year old top-order batsman, has been seen as a prospect for the future. While he has been selected in the side to get adequate exposure to the rigours of international cricket, a debut for him in the series hasn't been ruled out.
 
"We've got a very good mixture of experience and youth in the team. Most of them are newcomers - the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis. Except for a few players who have played 50-60 games, it is a very exciting time for us," the Sri Lankan skipper said.
 
"Avishka looked really good in the centre yesterday. Most importantly we wanted to share that dressing room atmosphere and the experience with a younger player like him.Especially because we're playing at home we have the advantage of bringing in an Under-19 player to share the dressing room with the likes of the Tillakaratne Dilshans and Dinesh Chandimals. That's our main idea, but if there's a chance he'll play as well," he added.

Apart from the return of Dilshan, who was not part of the ODI side during the series against England due to personal reasons, Thisara Perera is another senior player making a comeback. The all-rounder was relegated to play for Sri Lanka A, and despite some mediocre performances with the A side, he was recalled to the national side.
 
"Thisara is a very important player," Mathews said. "He hasn't performed extremely well - the way he would have liked to, or we would have liked him to. But he's a character who could turn things around at any given day with bat or ball. We're hoping he'll come good in this series. Our expectations of him are as a bowler, mainly."
 
With the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo expected to assist spinners, the spinning all-rounders in the side - like Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana and Seekkuge Prasanna might be preferred over a fast bowling all-rounder like Perera.
 
"We've got so many spinners to choose from, a good set of batters and a couple of fast bowlers. We're yet to decide whether we want to go with two spinners and two fast bowlers or three spinners and one fast bowler. We'll come back tomorrow, take a look at the wicket, and then decide," Mathews concluded.