Controversy in England after Senanayake runs out Buttler in ‘unsporting’ fashion.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has backed his bowler Sachitra Senanayake for having ‘Mankad-ed’ out England batsman Jos Buttler during the fifth and final ODI of the series at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
Senanayake had warned Buttler that he was backing up too far at the non-strikers’ end, before he eventually ran him out in the same over.
The run-out may have played a big part in Sri Lanka’s six wicket win to clinch the ODI series 3-2, but Mathews feels that the Lankans had not done anything against the spirit of the game.
“He was taking starts, not only this game but in the last game as well. I would stick by it,” the skipper was quoted by BBC Sport.
“What we did was completely within the rules. We gave him two warnings. I don’t know what else you can do to stop him doing that, so we had to go for it.”
England captain Alastair Cook meanwhile, felt that the Three Lions were hard done by as he felt that running a batsman out in such a manner was against the spirit of the game, and was also unfair as the non striker was not trying to steal a run.
“Yes he had warned him, but it was not as if he was sprinting down the wicket. There’s a way of doing things, in my opinion,” Cook said.
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