Mathews breaks into Sanga's shelf

But the skeletons also came forth for all to see on a cosy cold night:

by Callistus Davy

Sri Lanka may be producing cricketers by the truckloads but few exponents of the summer game can turn heads in the sunniest of places as did Angelo Mathews on a night that everything seemed to have gone his way when the annual Dialog Cricket Awards ceremony unfurled at the Waters Edge in downtown Battaramulla on Monday.

He was the undisputed Cricketer of the Year, the Best Batsman in Tests and the Best Batsman and Allrounder in ODIs, a virtual clean sweep of the stage while the retired Kumar Sangakkara for once was reduced to a mere spectator with just one award, the People's Player of the Year which perhaps Mathews could lay his hands on the next time as Sri Lanka struggles to recreate a bygone era.

But Mathews broke Sangakkara's half a decade dominance of the Test Batsman of the Year prize after he smashed more than a thousand runs in the awarding year in Tests and ODI formats. "We had players like Duleep Mendis, Roy Dias, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muralideran and now it's time to give the backing to our youngsters to turn into future stars and I am sure this is possible", said Sangakkara.

But the show as usual had its share of chokes and eyebrow-raising moments when batsman Kusal Perera picked up the award for the so-called Emerging Player of the Year after playing in as many as 48 One-Day Internationals and a Test match at the age of 25.

Either the Sri Lankan stables are bare or the country's think-tanks prefer to call the coin safe just in case their adventurous moves backfire. The latter is more like it in a country where playing safe is the accepted norm. Another award that may have raised from questions would have been the prize presented to spinner Ajantha Mendis who was adjudged the Best Bowler in ODIs but was strangely not a member of the 2015 World Cup squad.

Mendis' 38 wickets taken last year that fell into the period under review which was also a month before the World Cup squad was finalised, was not adequate to secure him a berth in the flagship event but sufficient enough to put him on stage in front of a 650-member strong festive audience that included the hierarchy of Sri Lanka Cricket.

But veteran spin bowler Rangana Herath did not have to expose the guilt of anyone when he picked up the award for the Best Test bowler with none near to challenge him for the prize.