Clarke says Australia needs to get Mathews out

Sydney, Feb 11 : Australian captain Michael Clarke has confessed that his team needs to get Sri Lankan vice-captain Angelo Mathews out, who is producing some of his best innings against Australia.

In 2010, Mathews made an unbeaten 77,and along with tail-ender Lasith Malinga produced a match-winning partnership of 132 runs for the eighth-wicket to steer Sri Lanka to an improbable one-wicket victory over Australia at the MCG.

It was almost a case of dejavu on Friday night, when Mathews (64 off 76 balls) shared a 46-run last-wicket stand with Dhammika Prasad and almost won the match for Sri Lanka at the WACA, which they eventually lost by five runs.

Clarke now feels his team needs to come up with better plans to get Mathews out. “He continues to make runs against us. He''s that type of player. If he gets past 20 he''s unstoppable. He strikes the ball as clean as anybody,’ The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Clarke, as saying.

“We''ve got to keep working on our plans to him, and be a bit more disciplined early to him and try to get him out for less than 20 more often,” he added. Mathews has been in good form lately and would want to carry that momentum against India in Sri Lanka’s next one-day international on Tuesday.