No sporting success comes without luck and in a career spanning a decade and a half, Angelo Mathews has seen a fair bit of it but proceedings in Galle on Thursday left even him shocked. The all-rounder somehow stayed on the crease even after a ball rattled into his stump without breaking them.
Sri Lanka were left reeling at 30/3 on Day 2 of the first Test against Australia in pursuit of a mammoth first innings total of 654/6d courtesy of an Usman Khawaja double century as well as tons from Steve Smith and Josh Inglis. The hosts lost openers Oshada Fernando and Dimuth Karunaratne in quick succession before their most experienced batter Angelo Mathews succumbed to Nathan Lyon with half an hour to go for Stumps. However, the veteran could have departed even earlier in his 18-ball stay for nine runs were it not for a miracle from Lady Fortune to save Mathews the blushes.
On the second ball of the eighth over, Lyon went around the stumps to pitch a back of a length delivery on leg stump that instead of going with the angle spun back into Mathews. The batter, having initially taken a step forward, remained in his crease and relied on hand-eye co-ordination instead of his footwork to clip the ball from his things. However, the Kookaburra beat his inside edge and thumped into the leg to bounce on the crease before turning sharply to nutmeg Mathews and head towards the wickets. By the time the veteran realized what was going on, the red cherry had already struck middle stump with some force but much to Mathews’ shock, the bails remained intact. The 37-year-old immediately put his hand to his head in disbelief, with Alex Carey’s animated reaction indicating the bails had infact not come off only added to the awe of the occasion.
Nevertheless, Mathews failed to make the most of his second life but Twitterati was amused by the incident all the same.
Saved
Where are they
Heard some people say without Pat Cummins Australia will struggle in Sri Lanka!😒🤭🤭🤭
Where are those people now? Nowhere to be seen!— Troll cricket unlimitedd (@TUnlimitedd) January 30, 2025
Usman Khawaja in Test cricket:
10 innings of BGT – 184 runs.
1 innings in Sri Lanka – 190* runs.— Cricket fan’s (@Cricketfan__77) January 30, 2025
Brilliant
Brilliant day for Australia then in Sri Lanka again !
on track to win hopefully
more visits to Indian Sub-continent, more chances of Australia winning Test tours in Ind, SL etc— ABHIJIT NAIR 🏏🇦🇺 (@Rahul_bill) January 30, 2025
Wow
Highest individual score in Tests at Galle, Sri Lanka
333 – Chris Gayle vs 🇱🇰, 2010
245 – Kusal Mendis vs 🇮🇪, 2023
237 – M Jayawardene vs 🇿🇦, 2004
232 – Usman Khawaja vs 🇱🇰, 2025*
228 – Joe Root vs 🇱🇰, 2021
221 – K Sangakkara vs 🇵🇰, 2014
213* – M Jayawardene vs 🏴, 2007#SLvsAUS pic.twitter.com/88b004Qacc— ꜱᴘᴏʀᴛꜱ ꜱᴛᴀᴛꜱ 🇮🇳 (@_mkverma) January 30, 2025
Just about the perfect day for Australia in Galle 👏
After declaring on 6/654, they took three early wickets to leave Sri Lanka 3/44 at stumps on Day 2 #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/0mi4lPx3Jl— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 30, 2025
Doin well
#SLvAUS Australia doing well union the warm up game in
Sri Lanka🚜— “STRAIGHT SHOOTER” (@Goalkickingguru) January 30, 2025
Bumrah show
Usman Khawaja vs India – 184 runs (10 innings)
Usman Khawaja vs Sri Lanka – 232 runs (1 inning)
Form is not an issue it’s Jasprit Bumrah show☠️ pic.twitter.com/by0z9G1b51— Vivek Singh🇮🇳 (@imviveksingh09) January 30, 2025
The covers are coming on and that will likely be stumps.
Sri Lanka 3/44, trailing by 610 runs.#SLvAUS— SEN Cricket (@SEN_Cricket) January 30, 2025
Really
Sri Lanka are just shit aren’t they. It’s no fun when we aren’t playing India, England, New Zealand or South Africa #SLvAUS
— ian (@Ianwkaiaj) January 30, 2025
