da imperador bet： Sri Lankan batsman Angelo Mathews is keen to make most of the opportunity after being selected to represent the Kolkata Knight Riders in the second season of the IPL, which gets underway in South Africa on April 18.
da dobrowin： Sa'adi Thawfeeq29-Mar-2009Sri Lankan allrounder Angelo Mathews is keen to make most of the opportunity after being selected to represent the Kolkata Knight Riders in the second season of the IPL, which gets underway in South Africa on April 18.”As soon as I heard that I have been selected to play for Kolkata Knight Riders I was surprised and very happy,” Mathews said. “At a young age it is a big honour to get into an IPL team which has the cream of international cricketers. I think I am really lucky and honoured to be playing in the IPL.”It’s always fun to play Twenty20 cricket. It’s a fast game. You need to enjoy cricket and Twenty20 helps to relax your mind.”Mathews may not have had as sensational a beginning as another Sri Lankan in the Kolkata squad, Ajantha Mendis, but the signs of improvement are there. At 21, Mathews has already made five ODI appearances for Sri Lanka and scored his maiden half-century, but his real prowess is in the longer version of the game.Not many cricketers would boast of a first-class batting average of 55 with eighthundreds in just three seasons of first-class cricket. He has crossed 150 four times during those centuries, including a career-best 270 for Basnahira North against Kandurata in the recently concluded inter-provincial league tournament. Mathews emerged as the leading run-getter accumulating 746 runs at 93.25 and it was largely his contribution that helped Basnahira North to the crown. In the five matches, he scored three centuries and two fifties and was in great form during the tournament.”I played a few games in the Premier League when I came back from the Pakistan ODIsand scored a hundred (168) against Colombo Cricket Club,” Mathews said. “I was in good nick at that time. I practiced harder than in the recent past and I think that contributed towards my good form in the provincial tournament.”With 746 runs in the Provincial League and 292 runs for Colts Cricket Club in the Premier League, Mathews has easily topped 1000 first-class runs in the ongoing 2008-09 domestic season. In fact, he had figured prominently during the teams’ successful runs in the respective tournaments.”The provincial tournament is the strongest in the country so far and it is the bestbecause it features the cream of the country’s cricketers plays,” Mathews said. “There was nothing wrong with the opposition I faced, but it is just that I was in good form.”Speaking about the big hundreds he is capable of scoring, Mathews said: “When I goto bat I don’t think of getting hundreds. I just occupy the crease and when I get afew runs, I really try to convert it into a big score. I don’t think of the situation. I just try to be positive and look for runs. If the situation becomes demanding, I change my game a bit. Other than that I wouldn’t change my game at all whatever the situation.”It’s just that when you get one or two hundreds you really feel what it is like toget one. Then you just want to make as many hundreds as you can. If you get agood score you try to make it into a big hundred. It gets into the system,” he said. “I’ve worked hard for all my hundreds. From the beginning of my first-class careerI’ve been trying to improve my game day by day. I am really happy the way I’veprogressed and I want to continue like that in the future.”Mathews has a repertoire of strokes and is not particular where he bats, but his sole intention is to make a good contribution to the team. “I am not looking at myself as a middle-order batsman or a top-order batsman just that I can handle any situation whatever position I bat,” he said. “I am picked as an allrounder but in the recent past I have not done much bowling because of a few aches and pains.”It is as an allrounder, though, that Mathews reckons he would fit into the national team. “I have improved quite a lot in all three departments – batting, bowling and fielding,” he said. “I’ve performed well in the school arena but to perform at the club-level you should be more mentally tough and physically fit, which I’ve worked hard at.”Mathews had an outstanding career at St Joseph’s College, Colombo whom he captainedin 2006 and then went on to lead the Sri Lanka Under-19 side. The previous year, he ledhis school and though Mathews went through a rather lean patch with the bat, he ended scoring 102 in the traditional match against arch rivals St Peter’s.The best piece of advice Mathews got from those who have helped shape his career is ‘never be satisfied with what you get (runs, wickets or catches) but try harder to beat what you’ve got’.His cricketing idols are Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and England allrounderAndrew Flintoff. “I really look at Sangakkara, how he plays and what quality he hasin his batting,” Mathews said. “I try to learn whatever I can from him. As an allrounder I would like be like Andrew Flintoff who bowls at a decent pace and bats well.”Great inspiration, no doubt, for Mathews’ who’s trying to cement his place in the national one-day and Test teams. “I’ve done very well so far in the provincial tournament and I hope those performances are taken note of by the national selectors,” he said. “I definitely have to fit in the national team as an allrounder which I am looking forward to. Whatever game I play I just want to perform in one-dayers or Tests. My main aim is to play Test cricket for my country.”
