St. Joseph’s College have produced some great cricketers over the years. A few went on to play for Ceylon/Sri Lanka but now they have the rare honour of producing the first Josephian Captain of Sri Lanka Cricket. The newly appointed Selection Committee led by Sanath Jayasuriya made the announcement couple of days back that the talented right hand batsman Angelo Mathews will skipper the country in the Test and ODI formats. Wicket-keeper Dinesh Chandimal will be his deputy. Mathews and Chandimal are both young and remarkably talented cricketers with a keen mind and open disposition towards the game. It will be interesting to see how they perform as a pair and they get the first opportunity against the visiting Bangladesh team next month on home turf.

When Mahela Jayawardena quit as captain following the Australian tour, there was a toss up as to who would replace him. It was clear that senior players like the outgoing captain, Kumar Sangakkara or Tilekeratne Dilshan who are all in their 30s will not be considered. The stage was then set for young Angelo Mathews to step in and take charge. There was no need for the selectors to look beyond Mathews who was fortunate to be vice captain to Jayewardene. Jayewardene was easily one of the best captain’s produced by Sri Lanka and Mathews would have learnt from Jayawardena’s clever tactics. And Jayawardene had made it known that there was no bêtter individual to captain the country than Mathews once he steps down. Mathews has a vital role to play in taking Sri Lanka cricket to the top. Incidentally he becomes the first Josephian to captain a Sri Lankan cricket team.

The selectors did well to appoint Dinesh Chandimal as vice captain. Chandimal was finding it difficult to stay in the Test side on a permanent basis with Jayawardena, Dilshan, Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera blocking the few spots available in the batting line-up. But once Prasanna Jayewardene the regular wicket keeper was injured and then when Kumar Sangkkara suffered the same fate, the selectors on tour gloved Chandimal for the final Test in Sydney. And he came in with a loud roar, keeping brilliantly and then blasting a admirable and stylish un beaten half century when the innings was in tatters in the second innings. He has the makings of a future Sri Lanka captain. In addition to his duties as vice captain of the national team, he has been entrusted with the captaincy of the Twenty20 team which should be a good learning experience for him