During the second ODI against Ireland in Dublin, Sri Lankan seamer Shaminda Eranga had felt an elevated heart-rate and was subsequently hospitalized. His skipper Angelo Mathews termed the incident as ‘shocking’ and revealed what exactly happened to the 29-year old.
ESPNCricinfo reported Mathews speaking about the situation ahead of the opening cricket match of the ODI series against England in Nottingham. He was the one who called the team physio after Eranga asked him to feel his heart.
The all-rounder stated, “At the time he called me and said 'something has happened to me’. He was warming up and just before we went on the field, he said something happened to me. Can you touch my heart because it is beating fast. I felt something unusual so I quickly called the physio and the physio went for the doctor with him. It was a shocking incident.”
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On the same day, Eranga‘s bowling action was also found to be illegal by ICC. Called during the second Test in Durham, the flex in his elbow had exceeded the permissible fifteen degrees.
Mathews lamented, “It has been a tough 48 hours for him. And the whole team is behind him and we are fully supportive of him. It was an unfortunate incident just before we went on to the field.”
He added, “It's another unfortunate incident where his action has proved to be illegal and he will have to go back and work with the fast-bowling coaches and come back strong. We are very confident he will come through both, his condition as well as his action. So, we are very supportive of him and the whole team are behind him.”
Looking back on the Mankading affair in Sri Lanka’s previous ODI series on English soil, Mathews admitted that he did not regret his stance. The right-hander believed, “You face challenging moments in life. Being in the hot seat is not easy. Sometimes, you have to make those hard decisions. Unfortunately, I had to make that. I still stand by it because we warned him twice before. That's all we could possibly do at that time.”
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