To beat the No. 1 team is very satisfying: Angelo Mathews

Before the start of the opening Test in Pallekele, an injury-hit Sri Lankan side was hardly considered a match for the No. 1 ranked Australians, despite the familiarity with conditions. And when Sri Lanka were bowled out for 117 in their first innings of the first Test, the outcome appeared a foregone conclusion for the Steven-Smith led team. However, less than two weeks since the start of the first Test, the predicted script had to be cast away as Australia's subcontinent woes came to the fore again. With totals of 106 and 183 in the second Test in Galle, Australia's weakness against the slow bowlers was exposed yet again as the visitors slipped to a 229-run loss to suffer their eighth Test defeat on the trot in Asia.


An unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series is a happy position to be in, a position not many would have backed Sri Lanka to find themselves in. However, rising against the odds and proving their detractors wrong, Angelo Mathews's bunch provided the cricket loving public in Sri Lanka a lot of joy, making up for the national team's below-par performances in recent months.
 
Thanking the selectors and the fans for keeping their faith in an inexperienced side, Mathews was lavish in his praise of the team for helping the hosts clinch the series against Australia for the first time since 1999.
"Well, my team backed me all the way through, so special thanks to them. Also thanks to SLC for backing us right throughout and also the selectors. They said we'll get a bit of stick when we lose a few games, but if we do our processes right, we will, along the way, win a few games," Mathews said. "To beat the No. 1 team is very satisfying. We also thank the fans for being there with us. It's never an easy task when you lose games to keep persevering. They kept believing in us and supporting us."
 
While Rangana Herath did a good job again, it was Dilruwan Perera who was Sri Lanka's star performer in the game. A four-wicket haul in the first innings was followed by a crucial knock of 64 before the off-spinning all-rounder picked up a career-best 6 for 70 in the second innings to become the first Sri Lankan player to register a fifty-plus score and claim 10 or more wickets in the same Test.
 
Calling him a silent hero, Mathews said Sri Lanka had a lot to gain from the all-rounder in the future. "We talk a lot about Rangana Herath, but not as much about Dilruwan. But he's just become the fastest Sri Lankan to 50 Test wickets. When Murali aiya was there, we didn't speak that much about Rangana, so I guess it's the same thing with Dilruwan. He's a silent hero. In the last match he didn't bowl well, but he was very diligent and knows how to bowl in Galle. He worked very hard in training with the coaches. He's someone we can get a lot of profit from in the years to come."
 
Speaking about the Australian batsmen's problems against spin, Mathews said: "They [Australia] look a bit lost when it comes to our spinners. Our spinners have bowled extremely well. They found it a bit hard to score off our spinners.
 
"When you're playing on extreme conditions you can't just block the cricket ball. You're eventually going to get out to short leg or lbw. You've got to start scoring runs. You've got to sweep and reverse sweep. Sometimes you're still going to make mistakes, but you'll find a way to score runs and upset the lines and lengths of the bowlers. We had to be scrappy," said Mathews, pointing out the difference between the batting approach of the two sides.