'Time for me to say goodbye' - Angelo Mathews to retire from Test cricket

Angelo Mathews will retire from Test cricket after the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle, starting on June 17. He will remain available for white-ball selection "if and when my country needs me", he said in an announcement on his social media handle.

Mathews has not been picked in a white-ball Sri Lanka side in almost a year, but in any case, the forthcoming Test will mark the end of a Test career that will have stretched for 119 appearances. Mathews made his debut in the format in 2009, and has been more-or-less a fixture in the side since.

Sri Lanka's Test schedule is about to dry up, however, and Mathews, who turns 38 next week, would have likely had to have waited until May 2026 to play Tests again.

"The past 17 years of playing cricket for Sri Lanka has been my highest honour and pride," Mathews said. "I have given everything to cricket and cricket has given me everything in return and made me the person I am today. Whilst I bid adieu to the Test format, as discussed with selectors I will remain available for selection for the white ball format, if and when my country needs me." With Sri Lanka due to co-host the T20 World Cup with India early in 2026, there is a chance Mathews could be picked in that squad.

Mathews captained Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, including in some of their most famous victories, especially in Headingley in 2014, where his 160 in the second innings turned the match.

As a batter, his career tally of 8167 runs puts him third on Sri Lanka's all-time list, behind Kumar Sangakkara (12, 400) and Mahela Jayawardene (11,814). He presently has 16 hundreds, and a Test average of 44.62. Mathews has only sporadically bowled in Tests, but has 33 wickets in the format.

In his greatest stretch of form, between 2013 and 2015, Mathews scaled peaks rarely reached by Sri Lanka batters, hitting 2378 runs at an average of 59.45. Almost all those runs came with him batting at No. 5 or No. 6.

While he never matched that level of batting output again, he has nevertheless been a significant contributor in Tests, notably in 2022 and 2023, when he hit 2141 runs (both years together) at an average of 51.15, though by this stage he had moved up to No. 4. His most-recent Test hundred came against Afghanistan in February 2024.

His Test career has not been without controversy, particularly around 2017 and 2018, when he had been in a public standoff with then-coach Chandika Hathurusinghe. The last few years of his career have been characterised by a greater emphasis on his fitness, after the middle period of his career had been hampered by various leg injuries.