Mathews becomes tenth Sri Lankan to score hundred against Australia

hey may have lost their aura, but still, a Test hundred against Australia remains the best personal milestone for a Test cricketer. Sri Lanka vice-captain Angelo Mathews became the tenth Sri Lanka to score a century against them yesterday as he helped Sri Lanka to reach 473 runs in their first innings in the third Test against the tourists.

"It was great getting to it after a couple of missed opportunities. This was a very patient knock, close to 270 balls because even though the wicket was flat and hard the Australians didn’t give it easily. We had to be patient and wait for the loose balls," Mathews, playing only his 16th Test told journalists.

He had been out twice in the 90s before and when Sri Lanka’s ninth wicket fell he was still five runs short of his maiden Test hundred. He had been dismissed for 95 in the second innings in Galle while in Bombay two years ago he was run out on 99 batting with last man Muttiah Muralitharan. "You can always say batting in the nineties you get a bit nervous because I haven’t got a hundred yet. I was a bit nervous on this occasion as well."

"We certainly had a plan. We wanted to get 100 runs today and get the lead up to about 200 runs which we couldn’t and fell short by about 40 runs."

Despite the sentiments of a young player scoring his maiden Test hundred against a disciplined bowling unit, there was some criticism on his approach to put personal milestones ahead of team’s interest. But the number six batsman was confident Sri Lanka could record a win. "The team always comes first and we need to win this Test to level the series. We always look at opportunities where the team ends up winning. We are in a very strong position today because they are three wickets down and the wicket has started to spin."

"Australia were not giving away any easy runs. They bowled to a plan and if we had to push then we had to go for big shots and we cannot afford to lose wickets. We have to be patient. We still have 90 overs to bowl on the last day and we are still on track."

Mathews has played this series only as a specialist batsman as left quadriceps and knee injuries haven’t allowed him to bowl. "I will be flying to Australia after this series to get a few injections and soon after that I will start bowling. I think I will be fit to bowl from the next series onwards."