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SL vs IRE | Ramesh Mendis Five-fer Enforces Sri Lanka Win on Day 5

image-lh0dd18bRamesh Mendis celebrates Andy Balbirnie's wicket with teammates (Twitter)

Ireland: 492 in 145.3 overs [Curtis Campher 111 (229), Paul Stirling 103 (181); Prabath Jayasuriya 5-174, Asitha Fernando 2-78] & Ireland in 202/10 in 77.3 overs [Harry Tector 85 (189), Andy Balbirnie 46 (101); Ramesh Mendis 5-64, Asitha Fernando 3-30] lost to Sri Lanka 704-3d in overs [Kusal Mendis 245 (291), Nishan Madushka 205 (339); Graham Hume 1-87, Curtis Campher 1-101] by an innings and 10 runs.

Ireland failed to replicate their first-innings magic and folded up for just 202 to hand hosts Sri Lanka their second straight innings win this series. Harry Tector and captain Andy Balbirnie showed some resistance on Day 5 with fighting knocks, while none of the other Irish batters managed to go beyond the 20-run mark.

Sri Lankan off-spinner Ramesh Mendis, who toiled away for 27 overs in first innings to return with just a wicket, added five to his tally in the second on a high-scoring Galle pitch.


Sri Lanka seal series 2-0, completes 100 wins in Tests

Ireland started the final day of the series-deciding Test at 54-2, with captain Balbirnie and Harry Tector at the crease. The skipper scored a cautious 46, washing up 101 deliveries in the process.

Meanwhile, Tector slammed a career-best 85, his third half-century in Tests. The duo outscored the rest of the Irish batting line-up, with Peter Moor’s 19 constituting as the third best effort of the innings.

Prabath Jayasuriya, who snared a five-fer in the first innings, dismissed Moor and Paul Stirling in the deciding act to finish the two-match series with 17 wickets. In doing so, he completed 50 career wickets in Tests, thus becoming the fastest spinner in history to do so (in just seven matches).

Ramesh Mendis, on the other hand, struck five times on Day 5 itself to finish with figures of 5-64. Speedster Asitha Fernando accounted for the remaining three Ireland batters to fold them up for just 202.

Sri Lanka, who won the first match of the series by a record margin of an innings and 280 runs, took home the second Test with another innings victory. Notably, the win marked Sri Lanka’s 100th in Test cricket, a feat they achieved in their 311th match.