Mathews, Sri Lanka not running away from poor form
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has no plans to "run away" from his team's problems, urging them to focus on improvement. A 122-run loss to England in Cardiff on Saturday saw the visitor slump to a 3-0 defeat in the five-match one-day international series.
Published : Jul 03, 2016 18:10 IST
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has no plans to "run away" from his team's problems, urging them to focus on improvement.
A 122-run loss to England in Cardiff on Saturday saw the visitor slump to a 3-0 defeat in the five-match one-day international series.
Mathews' men are winless on the tour against England and they complete their trip with a Twenty20 on Tuesday.
Despite their struggles, Mathews said they needed to identify the issues and work on getting better.
"There will be good times as well as bad," he said.
"This is a tough time for me as a captain and for the whole unit but you can't run away from it. You have to deal with the issues.
"I have a good bunch of players who support me throughout and I'm pretty sure if we keep improving day by day we can come out of this hole."
Mathews said his team had simply been outplayed regularly by England during the tour.
The latest defeat came after Joe Root (93) and Jos Buttler (70 off 45) led the host to 324-7 from 50 overs, with Sri Lanka bowled out for 202 in response.
Mathews said: "We have had the same problems over the past five weeks - either batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every game and England have outplayed us.
"They got the momentum from the Trent Bridge tie and we didn't pull ourselves up."
England captain Eoin Morgan lauded his team for their performances throughout the ODI series.
"The belief in our changing room has been backed up by performances - Jason Roy has been outstanding but everyone, bar myself, has contributed with the bat," he said.
"We have also come up with ideas with the ball when it hasn't been swinging."