Prabath Jayasuriya picked up his 2nd 10-wicket haul in just his 6th Test as Sri Lanka recorded their biggest ever win (in terms of an innings and runs), beating the Irish by an innings and 280 runs in the 1st Test between the sides in Galle.
The left-arm spinner was rampant in the first innings, running through the visitors’ batting order in the 1st innings, picking up 7 for 52, wrapping up the Irish innings an hour into day 2 before Sri Lanka enforced the follow on with a lead of 448.
The Irish 2nd innings started in a similar way to the 1st with left-arm quick Vishwa Fernando accounting for the wickets of Murray Commins and Andrew Balbirnie, extracting what little the surface had to offer while the ball was still new.
The wickets kept coming for Sri Lanka, with the Irish struggling to put up a fight before lunch as 5 wickets fell, with Jayasuriya picking up 2 to give hopes of another 5-wicket-haul. However, after the break it was Lorcan Tucker who once again stood tall for the visitors, with a sensible hand alongside Curtis Campher. The pair looked to keep the good balls out but also punished the loose deliveries, which inevitably came from Ramesh Mendis, who struggled to maintain a tight line and length.
The 60-run partnership for the 6th wicket looked like it would see Ireland make it through to the end of the day’s play as the Sri Lankan bowlers tired, but Campher fell to a brilliant take by Nishan Madushka at short leg, trying to lap sweep and that brought the end to any hopes of the Irish taking the game to day 4.
Tector, who had looked solid in both innings, was deserving of a half-century but ran himself out calling for a non-existent run a few overs before Tea and was soon followed by Andy McBrine.
In the end, the result was an inevitability, with Mendis picking up George Dockrell right after tea and Jayasuriya trapping George White right in front right after.
Mendis also became the 2nd fastest Sri Lankan to reach 50 wickets in Tests by innings (21) – behind Ajantha Mendis (19 innings) and joint fastest by matches (11) – alongside Dilruwan Perera, when he picked up Andy McBrine.
The teams will begin the 2nd Test on the 24th of April at the same venue.
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 | |
, beating the Irish by an innings and 280 runs in the 1st Test between the sides in Galle.){kind=link}