Sri Lanka dropped Angelo Mathews from the ODI and T20 squads to take on England following the team’s dismal showing in the Asia Cup.
The islanders’ group stage exit from the tournament in the UAE had led to Mathews being asked to step down from his limited-overs captaincy on Friday following a meeting involving him, coach Chandika Hathurusingha and the selectors.
In his resignation letter to CEO Ashley de Silva, Mathews targeted Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for making him the ‘scapegoat’ for the team’s debacle.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Mathews’ name was missing from Sri Lanka’s limited-overs squads for the England clashes. That speculation was confirmed on Wednesday with the former skipper’s name not featuring in the 15-man squad for the five ODIs and sole T20.
The all-rounder, has however, been picked in the Test squad.
Lasith Malinga has retained his place in the limited-overs squad.
Test skipper Dinesh Chandimal will take over the captaincy for the ODI and T20 clashes as well following Mathews’ axing. In a media release on Sunday, the Sri Lankan board had mentioned its desire to allow Chandimal to lead the team in all three formats as the reason for Mathews’ removal.
Veteran pacer Lasith Malinga has been retained in the limited-overs squad following his comeback in the Asia Cup.
The five-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and England will get underway on October 10 with the one-off T20 taking place on October 27.
The limited-overs clashes will be followed by a three-Test series which gets underway on November 6.
SRI LANKA ODI AND T20 SQUAD
Dinesh Chandimal (c), Upul Tharanga, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Niroshan Dikwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Thisara Perera, Akila Dhananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Lasith Malinga, Amila Aponso, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Kasun Rajitha and Kusal Perera.
