ODI World Cup 2023: Angelo Mathews sparks magic with ball on return to national side in England collapse

Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews has marked his return to the national side with a bang, scalping two wickets against England in the ODI World Cup contest on Thursday (Oct 26). The match played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the south Indian city of Bengaluru is the first time Matthews has been involved for the national side since June, while it is just his fourth ODI outing of the calendar year.

However, he did not take long to make his presence felt with a brace against England in Bengaluru.

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Matthews on fire

Having been called up as a replacement to injured fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, Mathews was an instant hit as he scalped well-settled Dawid Malan (28) on the third ball of the seventh over. Malan was unable to judge the flight of the delivery and handed a catch to skipper Kusal Mendis. This was also the first wicket in England's downfall.

Mathews would later return to get the better of Moeen Ali (15) as he continued his impressive return to the side. Interestingly, this is just the fifth time he has played ODI cricket for the side since the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. He along with Dushmantha Chameera were asked to join the squad for the ODI World Cup after the side was plagued with injuries.

England on back foot

England were caught on the back foot in the important contest after they were bowled out for 156 in 33.2 overs. The defending champions already having lost three matches in the ODI World Cup are on the brink of exiting the tournament in the league stage if they lose the Sri Lanka contest. While mathematically they still stand a chance of making it to the last four, with other teams playing around them England’s fate is not in their hands anymore.

Much to the credit of the Sri Lanka bowlers they were at their fluent best with Lahiru Kumara (35/3), Kasun Rajitha (36/2), and Maheesh Theekshana (21/1) also on song with the ball.