Angelo Mathews emulates Sangakkara-Jayawardene, joins Fab Four in major achievement in Test cricket

Angelo Mathews saw his name written in Sri Lanka cricket's history books after reaching 8,000 Test runs on Friday. The veteran all-rounder scored an unbeaten 40 runs on Day 2 of the ongoing second Test match against South Africa in Gqerbha to become the only third Sri Lanka to achieve the historic run-scoring record.

The 37-year-old batting all-rounder reached the 8000-run mark after scoring 34 runs in the closing stages of Day 2 at St George's Park. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were the only Sri Lankans to breach this mark in Test cricket before Mathews' entry on Friday.

Mathews now boasts 8,006 runs in 205 Test innings at an average of 45.23 with the help of 16 hundreds and 44 fifties. However, both Jayawardene and Sangakkara managed to reach 8000 Test runs with fewer innings than Mathews. Among active Sri Lankans, Dimuth Karunartne is also chasing the 8000-run mark while Dinesh Chandimal is only 10 runs away from 6000 Test runs.

Most Test runs for Sri Lanka

1. Kumar Sangakkara - 12400 runs in 134 matches
2. Mahela Jayawardene - 11814 runs in 149 matches
3. Angelo Mathews - 8006 runs in 116 matches
4. Dimuth Karunaratne - 7164 runs in 98 matches
5. Sanath Jayasuriya - 6973 runs in 110 matches
6. Aravinda de Silva - 6361 runs in 93 matches
7. Dinesh Chandimal - 5990 runs in 89 matches

Meanwhile, Mathews also joined the cricket's Fab Four - Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson in the only five-player list of active cricketers with 8000-plus runs in red-ball cricket. Root is dominating the chart with 12780 runs, over 3000 more runs than second-best Steve Smith. 

Most Test runs among active cricketers

1. Joe Root - 12780 runs in 275 innings
2. Steve Smith - 9702 runs in 197 innings
3. Virat Kohli - 9152 runs in 204 innings
4. Kane Williamson - 9072 runs in 183 innings
5. Angelo Mathews - 8006 runs in 205 innings