The 38-year-old Sri Lankan National Cricket Team all-rounder Angiro Mathews has announced that they intend to retire from white ball cricket co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka after the end of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
Angelo Matthews’ Whiteball retirement is set to retire from Test cricket after the Sri Lankan featured in the Test series opener with Bangladesh.
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The main reason is that we haven’t had many games coming – Angelo Matthews
All-rounder Angelo Matthews is a veteran of 118 Test matches, and he has expanded his career surprisingly well, establishing himself as one of the greatest greatest ever in Sri Lankan cricket.
He scored 8,167 runs in Test cricket with an average of 44.62 in his 450s. On the ball, he was less successful than his white ball career. It was because he bagged just 33 Test wickets with an average of 54.48, economy 2.71 and strike rate of 120.5.
Speaking to reporters a day before the start of the Test series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Angelo Matthews said it was a fun coincidence to retire from Red Ball Cricket at the same venue (Girl International Stadium), where he debuted in 2009 and played his 100th Test.
He added that one of the main reasons behind leaving Test cricket after the series’ opener is the lack of red ball matches in Sri Lanka’s play. He explained in detail (as cited by Cricbuzz):
“That’s a coincidence. I made my debut with gal. I played my 100th Test with gal. And I’m going to say goodbye to gal. The main reason is that we haven’t had many games coming. After this, our next test allocation is a year away. It’s a very long time.
“He won’t be able to get another chance until next year, so I thought it would be best to give him the opportunity to replace me in his second Test match.
There will be another six months until the next T20 World Cup – Angelo Mathews
Angelo Matthews, who scored 1416 runs and bagged 45 wickets at the T20IS, also said he would work very hard on his fitness to feature at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and give him the opportunity to retire completely from cricket after that event. He explained in detail:
“There’s another six months until the next T20 World Cup. I’ll try it according to what my body is telling me. I want to retire from white ball cricket in that World Cup. If I can win another World Cup, I’ll do everything I can to improve my fitness and skills over the next six months.
“I’m very happy. From 2008 to 2015, I played all-rounder in all formats, and I haven’t been able to bowl much since 2016. It ultimately hit my body because I didn’t really care much about workload management. I wanted to contribute in every game: bat, ball, field. team.”
The future looks bright – Sri Lanka
Angelo Matthews also said the future of Sri Lankan cricket looks very bright. He said:
“The future looks bright. With Sanas (Jayasuriya) taking over and Apple Taranga and his team coming in, communication was great. Whether it was the elderly, juniors or someone else, they’ve always communicated with us. That’s important.
“Communication is key to a good environment and sustained performance. We’ve seen it. We’ve done very well in Test matches. We even had a chance to participate in the WTC Finals.
