Mathews wins praise from Sri Lanka great

Angelo Mathews has warmly welcomed high praise from former World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga as the current Sri Lanka skipper aims for a shock series sweep over Australia when the third and final Test begins in Colombo today.

Ranatunga, who led the underdog Sri Lankans to glory at the 1996 World Cup, believes the series win over the world’s No.1 ranked Test side could catapult Mathews above any of the island nation’s cricket leaders to have gone before him.

Entering the series as Australia’s prime target following a poor tour of England, Mathews produced a pair of vital half centuries in the Galle Test to seal an unlikely and unforgettable series victory with a Test still to play.

It was the country’s first triumph over Australia in the game’s longest format since 1999, back when Ranatunga formed a part of the side’s middle order.

"Angelo was very positive from the first day of the series,” the former skipper told The Island.

“That’s something I didn’t see during the recent England series.

“He can go onto become the best captain the country has produced.”

Speaking ahead of the series finale at the SSC Ground in Colombo, a clearly chuffed Mathews said it was a comment he would forever cherish.

“To hear something like that from the legendary Arjuna is something that I value and will also cherish for the rest of my life,” Mathews said.

“It’s going to be hard work with a new young team, so we’ll see how it goes.

“Hopefully we all can deliver.”

Never one to back down from the Australians in his playing days, Ranatunga was again full of praise for the current crop of Sri Lankan players.

“The Australians by nature are tough and play aggressive cricket,” said Ranatunga, who played 93 Test for Sri Lanka from 1983 through until 2000.

“Winning against any Australian side in Test cricket is no mean task. The team should be proud of themselves at this achievement.”

With the series already secured, Mathews is drilling a ruthless attitude into his men ahead of the clash to be played on a pitch he happily described as a “spinners’ paradise”.

The 29-year-old skipper believes his side has trained harder than they did leading into the preceding Tests, while the Sri Lankans ‘don’t want to give any chances to the Australians’ and have therefore decided to replace young paceman Vishwa Fernando with the more experienced Suranga Lakmal.

Mathews scoffed at suggestions the tourists haven’t put up a fight during the first two encounters and strongly defended the performance of his whole squad over the past three weeks.

“You can’t say that they’ve not given us a fight,” Mathews said.

“We had to work really hard to win those two games. I thought we played better cricket than them.

“I mean, I’m hearing the Aussies have not played good cricket, the wickets were pretty poor.

“Well come on, you’ve got to grow up. We play on the same wicket. They’ve got spinners, we’ve got spinners. I think they’ve fought really hard.

“It’s just that our spinners have bowled extremely well and our spinners have exploited the conditions and bowled better than them, so credit should go to the whole team.”