Dinesh Chandimal and Sadeera Samarawickrama hit tons on day 2 of the 1st Test between Sri Lanka and Ireland as the hosts declared their 1st innings with a total of 591 on the board. In reply, the Irish were 117/7 at stumps, trailing by 474 runs.
The visitors got straight into it early on day two, sending nightwatchman Prabath Jayasuriya back to the pavilion in the 2nd over of the day. Dhananjaya de Silva looked good for a big one, but missed out before Chandimal and Samarawickrama came together for an unbeaten 183-run partnership.
Chandimal continued his prolific form in Galle, bringing up his 14th Test ton off 152 deliveries. Samarawickrama soon followed, his maiden international ton coming off 112 balls. The latter was the aggressor in the partnership as Sri Lanka pushed towards a declaration, particularly after the lunch break. Chandimal was given a life on 18 when he was dropped by Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps but looked largely fluent from that point onwards.
The Irish bowled poorly, unable to maintain a consistent line and length but Sri Lanka put the visitors out of their misery in the field quicker than expected, declaring as soon as Samarawickrama made his ton, midway through the 2nd session of the day.
Vishwa Fernando was the man who dealt the damage early on with the ball, producing a gem of a delivery first up to knock back Murray Commins’ off stump and then sending skipper Andrew Balbirnie back thanks to a sharp catch by Nishan Madushka at a deepish short-leg.
The Irish managed to rebuild however, thanks to some determined batting by James McCollum and Harry Tector, who put together a 70-run partnership for the 3rd wicket. The pair were making the Sri Lankan bowling look pretty tame before Tector edged one to slip to give Jayasuriya his 1st of 5 wickets.
Curtis Campher had toiled hard with the ball in hand and did not look in the mood to stick around for too long with the bat coming in at No. 5. The right-hander went for an expansive drive in the same over and was dismissed for a 2-ball duck, opening the floodgates for Sri Lanka after the fight put up by McCollum and Tector.
McCollum was the next to go for a hard-fought 35 before Peter Moor, who has played a couple of good knocks against Sri Lanka when representing Zimbabwe, knicked one behind to Samarawickrama. It was Jayasuriya’s drift again that did the trick against both McCollum and Moor and he completed his 5th 5-wicket haul a short while later when he trapped George Dockrell in front a half hour before the close of play.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nishan Madushka | c Lorcan Tucker b Curtis Campher | 29 | 48 | 4 | 0 | 60.42 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Lorcan Tucker b Mark Adair | 179 | 235 | 15 | 0 | 76.17 |
| Kusal Mendis | lbw b George Dockrell | 140 | 193 | 18 | 1 | 72.54 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Lorcan Tucker b Ben White | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | not out | 102 | 155 | 12 | 0 | 65.81 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | lbw b Curtis Campher | 16 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 69.57 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | lbw b Andy McBrine | 12 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | not out | 104 | 114 | 11 | 0 | 91.23 |
| Extras | 9 (b 4 , lb 3 , nb 1, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 591/6 (131 Overs, RR: 4.51) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Adair | 24.3 | 3 | 95 | 1 | 3.91 | |
| Curtis Campher | 21 | 2 | 84 | 2 | 4.00 | |
| Andy McBrine | 40 | 2 | 162 | 1 | 4.05 | |
| Ben White | 22 | 0 | 119 | 1 | 5.41 | |
| George Dockrell | 21.3 | 0 | 112 | 1 | 5.26 | |
| Harry Tector | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James McCollum | b Prabath Jayasuriya | 35 | 85 | 5 | 0 | 41.18 |
| Murray Commins | b Vishwa Fernando | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Andy Balbirnie | c Nishan Madushka b Vishwa Fernando | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Harry Tector | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Prabath Jayasuriya | 34 | 59 | 0 | 1 | 57.63 |
| Curtis Campher | c Ramesh Mendis b Prabath Jayasuriya | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Peter Moor | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Prabath Jayasuriya | 14 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 48.28 |
| Lorcan Tucker | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 45 | 73 | 7 | 0 | 61.64 |
| George Dockrell | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 2 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 8.33 |
| Andy McBrine | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 7 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Mark Adair | st Sadeera Samarawickrama b Prabath Jayasuriya | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ben White | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 2 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 2, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 143/10 (52.3 Overs, RR: 2.72) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 5 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 1.80 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 9 | 2 | 38 | 2 | 4.22 | |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 23 | 10 | 52 | 7 | 2.26 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 14.3 | 3 | 40 | 1 | 2.80 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James McCollum | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Prabath Jayasuriya | 8 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Murray Commins | c Ramesh Mendis b Vishwa Fernando | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Andy Balbirnie | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Vishwa Fernando | 6 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Harry Tector | run out (Sadeera Samarawickrama) | 42 | 95 | 4 | 0 | 44.21 |
| Lorcan Tucker | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Peter Moor | c Nishan Madushka b Ramesh Mendis | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Curtis Campher | c Nishan Madushka b Ramesh Mendis | 30 | 73 | 5 | 0 | 41.10 |
| George Dockrell | lbw b Ramesh Mendis | 32 | 54 | 6 | 0 | 59.26 |
| Andy McBrine | c Kusal Mendis b Ramesh Mendis | 10 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 90.91 |
| Mark Adair | not out | 23 | 29 | 3 | 0 | 79.31 |
| Ben White | lbw b Prabath Jayasuriya | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | 10 (b 5 , lb 3 , nb 1, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 168/10 (54.1 Overs, RR: 3.1) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prabath Jayasuriya | 24.1 | 6 | 56 | 3 | 2.32 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0.75 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 20 | 1 | 76 | 4 | 3.80 | |
| Asitha Fernando | 3 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 5.00 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3.33 | |
