Mathews defies drama, one last time

Life isn't perfect. Sri Lankan careers are even less so. Angelo Mathews knows this better than most.

Long cricketing lives the likes of which Mathews has had, rarely pass without incident. But in Sri Lanka, they are further enlivened by fights with the board, fights with coaching staff, galling accusations from ex-players, invites from sleazy politicians, the meddling incompetence of sports ministers, summary sackings from one group of selectors, and summary reappointments when the selectors themselves get sacked. If you've gained a little weight, Sri Lanka fans also do irreverence so casually that they will call you fat right to your face.

Mathews has never been the kind who seeks out drama. In fact, he feels like an exceptionally uncomplicated player of 119 Tests and captain of 34. He seethes personally, of course - we all do. But usually, he was the guy who was getting sucked into the gravity well of Sri Lankan cricket controversy against his will. The vibe tended to be "why do I have to deal with this?"

And yet, occasionally, there were fires that burned through the ice. The most memorable occasion was one that made the context of his farewell Test a little spicy. We are not going to re-litigate the incident today, but the summary is that in a 2023 World Cup match, Mathews became the first international cricketer in history to be timed out, in what he felt were unacceptable circumstances. In response he poured no little scorn on the Bangladesh team, calling their behaviour "disgraceful" and accusing them of stooping low. It was, by his standards, ludicrously incendiary.

But time heals, people mature, and life forces you to move on. Though there had been a little fallout over that Mathews timed-out incident in last year's Sri Lanka tour of Bangladesh, Mathews already seemed to have got over it.

And in this match, the Bangladesh players could not have been sweeter to him, or more gracious. They didn't quite form two separate guards of honour - one per innings - as Misbah-ul-Haq's Pakistan (miss those guys) once did for Mahela Jayawardene. But they spent many moments of the past five days patting him on the back, shaking his hand, smiling in his direction, speaking glowingly about his achievements, smiling some more.

The vibes peaked on day five, while Mathews was playing his final Test innings, batting for a draw. Off the 43rd ball Mathews faced, Bangladesh raised a big lbw appeal, and while they were reviewing the not-out decision, Mushfiqur Rahim came over to Mathews, and had a long, playful conversation, which ended with Mathews stroking Mushfiqur's beard. After play, Mathews revealed what had been said.

"Mushfiq kept chirping, and he wanted me to go for big shots," Mathews said. "I said, 'No, Mushfiq, I've played with you since under-19s and I know you very well. And this is not the time for me to go for big shots. Obviously, we want to draw this game'."

The subtext to Mushfiq's suggestions was that Mathews should be throwing his bat a little bit as this was his final innings. He should be having fun. In the first innings, Mathews had got down into a one-handed sweep that went all the way for six, which felt like a vintage Mathews moment - the kind of shot he would have nailed ten years ago. But here, Sri Lanka's chances of victory were so remote after the first two wickets fell, the dressing room had wanted caution, and Mathews - maybe the last Sri Lanka cricketer to retire with more than 100 Tests to his name - spent his final afternoon in the format defending.

It was fitting in its own way. Where other batters, particularly the younger ones, had developed their attacking games first, Mathews' aggression always seemed to stem from having a solid defensive technique. His playing of the bouncer was a case in point. Although he was one of the most natural pullers and hookers of the ball in Sri Lanka's Test history (behind only Aravinda de Silva, perhaps), Mathews was equally good at ducking, weaving, dead-batting steepling bounce, swivel-pulling away for singles, and fending rib-crushers into space.

In fact one of the great low-key cricket (as opposed to Big Three cricket) battles of the past 15 years, was Mathews v Neil Wagner. For Wagner, that short ball was basically the reason for his cricketing existence, particularly when New Zealand were hunting for second-innings wickets on pitches that had lost their juice. Mathews was that rare South Asian batter who enjoyed facing short-pitched bowling. One time, in a Dunedin Test in 2015, Wagner out-thunk him - peppering him with nasty short ones before slipping a full one in at the stumps, which Mathews, incredibly, tried to pad away. He got bowled instead. Three years later, Wagner spent all day trying to break through Mathews' defence on a Wellington track that offered good bounce, but couldn't, as Mathews and Kusal Mendis defied them in a 109.1-over unbeaten partnership.

On his final day of Test cricket, Mathews did not have much short fast bowling to defuse but did need to see out some spin. Of the potential 222 balls Sri Lanka had to face, Mathews soaked up 45 - about 20%. No one is about to pretend these are great numbers. But life isn't perfect, Sri Lankan careers even less so, and Mathews knows this.

Still, there were the fans who thronged the banks and stuck around to high-five him when he came around after the presentation, the former greats who have paid him public tribute, plus the long naya (cobra) kite that went up over Galle fort's ramparts bearing Mathews' name and jersey number. A Lankan cricketing life is not without its own delights. For a man as averse to drama as Mathews has been, he has lived out an especially storied one.