Powerful Sri Lanka Register Biggest Victory in Test Cricket Over Ireland
Sri Lanka vs Ireland (Source: Twitter)
The home side did an incredible effort to push the Irish side to the corner with their towering batters piling on centuries after centuries as the visitors couldn't recover after being bowled for a low total. This resulted in Sri Lanka winning by an innings and 280 runs within just three days.
Sri Lanka piled on runs with four centuries
The home side won the toss and opted to bat first at Galle with skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka opening the innings as Mark Adair and Curtis Campher took the red cherry in their hand.
Madushanka was cleaned up for 29, replacing whom Kusal Mendis joined in the skipper with the side's score being 64. These two batted continuously for about the next 49 overs to stitch an unbelievable 281-run partnership for the second wicket to take the score to 354. Kusal was the man to lose his wicket at that stage with his individual score being 140 for which he took 193 balls.
On the other hand, Angelo Mathews was the next batter in who lasted three deliveries to register a duck after his name. Soon after, Karunaratne had to depart as Adair found his edge which was caught behind the stumps by Lorcan Tucker, as he left for the pavilion after attaining the score of 179.
Sri Lanka vs Ireland (Source: Twitter)
However, Dinesh Chandimal was new to enter and continued to bat till the end of the innings remaining not out for 102. Next two wickets fell cheaply but wicketkeeper Sadeera Samarawickrama held his fort and formed another solid partnership with the former at a brisk rate as he notched up his maiden Test ton.
Sri Lanka declared the innings for 591 with six wickets down as Campher bagged two and others chipped in with one but going for plenty of runs.
Jayasuriya's seven-fer too good for Ireland
Looking to at least get near to the mammoth 591 run total, the visitors had no answer to the left-arm spin of Prabath Jayasuriya who penetrated the opposition's batting lineup as he got one after the another to which they had no answer.
Innings started with Murray Commins getting out for a golden duck and skipper Andy Balbirnie for 4 as both fell victim to Vishwa Fernando. However, after that almost every other wicket fell to Jayasuriya except Andy McBrine who was caught in front of the stumps by Ramesh Mendis.
Tucker was the best batter of the innings with 45 after his name as the Irish's innings folded for just 143 inside 53 overs.
Sri Lanka registers biggest innings victory in Test cricket
Deficit of 448 runs, Ireland were asked to follow on and again had no answer to Sri Lanka's bowling line-up as Commins bagged a pair in the game. This time instead of Tucker, Tector emerged as the highest runs-scorer with 42 on the scorecard.
The sorry tale of the Balbirnie-led side continued in the second innings too as they were seven down for 108 when Campher and George Dockrell scoring in the thirties to take the score to 167 which eventually led to them getting bowled out for 168, handing the Island nation victory by an innings and 280 runs which is also their biggest ever win with an innings in Tests.
Spin duo of Jayasuriya and Mendis picked up seven wickets in total with Vishwa bagging two in this innings as well.
Brief Scores:
Sri Lanka: 591/6 d (131 Overs)
Dimuth Karunaratne 179 (235), Kusal Mendis 140 (193);
Curtis Campher 2/84 (21), Mark Adair 1/95 (24.3)
Ireland: 143/10 (52.3 Overs)
Lorcan Tucker 45 (73), James McCollum 35 (85);
Prabath Jayasuriya 7/52 (23), Vishwa Fernando 2/38 (9)
Ireland: 168-10 (f/o) (54.1 Overs)
Harry Tector 42* (95), George Dockrell 32 (54);
Ramesh Mendis 4/76 (20), Prabath Jayasuriya 3/56 (24.1)
Match Result: Sri Lanka won by an innings and 280 runs
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