Mathews begs Sanga not to quit

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said that he has gone down on his knees to beg record-breaking batsman Kumar Sangakkara not to quit after the World Cup.

Sangakkara, 37, will call time on his ODI career at the end of the tournament but he is still in a rich vein of form -on Wednesday he became the first batsman to score four consecutive one-day centuries as Sri Lanka thrashed Scotland by 148 runs.

“I’ve been on my knees asking Kumar not to retire but we have to respect his wishes because we are thankful for all the times he has represented the country ,“ said Mathews.The skipper added: “The boys played really well and credit should go to Dilshan and Sangakkara, they are getting better and better with age.“We have to take one game at a time and play positive cricket.If we can improve our bowling and fielding, it will be great but the batters have posted 300 four times in a row. That is never easy.“Despite his form, Sangakkara, who has played 403 ODIs and made over 14,000 runs, insisted that there will be no going back on his decision.“Retirement is not about form, it is about time and place and whether it feels right. It is never about whether you can play or not,“ he said.