Mathews, Gamage out for rest of West Indies tour

Sri Lanka suffered a double when it was announced that Angelo Mathews and fast bowler Lahiru Gamage will return home early from the tour to the West Indies.

Gamage suffered a fracture to his finger while batting in the first Test, which Sri Lanka lost by 226 runs, while Mathews is heading back home due to personal reasons

Both players will now miss the second Test, starting in St Lucia on Thursday, and the final game of the series to be played in Barbados.

Mathews, who scored 31 and 11 in the first Test, will especially be a big miss as he is the most experienced batsman in the Sri Lanka squad.

Sri Lanka’s batsmen let the team down badly in the opening game of the series with sub-par totals of 185 and 226.

Danushka Gunathilaka, who had played in the Tests against Bangladesh in February, and allrounder Dasun Shanaka have been called up as replacements.

The tourists do have Dhananjaya de Silva and Mahela Udawatte already in the squad as batting cover while Kasun Rajitha and Asitha Fernando are on hand to replace Lahiru Gamage in the XI.