On day two in Galle, Sri Lanka sprinted to a commanding victory behind unbroken innings from Dinesh Chandimal and Sadeera Samarawickrama. Prabath Jayasuriya then took a five-wicket haul in the 19 overs he bowled before stumps.
At stumps, Ireland is in an appalling position, remaining 474 runs behind, with three first-innings wickets in hand. This is due to the hosts’ dominance, which was essentially unabated throughout the day. Additionally, the field has started to change significantly, if not permanently.
Ireland, who has never played a Test match in Galle and is participating in their first-ever two-Test series, knew it would be difficult to challenge Sri Lanka there in the oppressive temperatures of April. To avoid a setback in just three days, they’ll probably need to put up a strong fight on Tuesday.
The player that contributed the most to the outcome of the game on day two was Jayasuriya, who took five wickets for 42 runs after Vishwa Fernando had struck out two batters from Ireland in the first over of the innings.
Prabath Jayasuriya typically tested the outer edge of right-handed batters with his ball, which occasionally produced drift, dip, and biting turns.
Jayasuriya’s first victim was Harry Tector, who had shared a 70-run partnership with James McCollum for the third wicket and had blasted Jayasuriya over midwicket for six.
Tector was tempted into a drive by the bowler’s looping the ball up, but the ball eventually found its way to slip when the bowler gathered his outside edge with dip and spin.
He would eventually get the impatient Curtis Campher pushing one gently to cover after two balls.
Later on, he would have Peter Moor caught behind and George Dockrell out by a slider, but Jayasuriya’s third outing was his best, and it would have been disastrous for many batters with more experience than McCollum.
This was a tossed-up ball that drifted in, pitched on middle and off, drew the batter into a front-row defense, bounced and missed the outside edge of the plate by the smallest of margins, then clipped the top of the off-stump.
With 35 off 85, McCollum led Ireland in scoring on day two. Lorcan Tucker, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Andy McBrine were at the crease as they reached stumps.
Campher dismissed nightwatchman Jayasuriya in the second over of the morning for Ireland, and shortly after, McBrine trapped Dhananjaya de Silva in front. But for them, that was the best thing they could get.
After that, Samarawickrama and Chandimal went on an unbroken 183 runs together as the assault sputtered under the oppressive heat and humidity.
In his first Test in more than five years, Samarawickrama advanced with exceptional quickness to a first-ever Test century as he pounced on the short lengths that Ireland continued to feed him. In his first eleven balls, he had hit three boundaries behind square, which was a solid start.
The fact that he found singles and twos squares of the wicket, especially on the offside and especially against spinners, kept his strike rate from falling too far below 90, despite the fact that he was not quite able to keep scoring boundaries that frequently.
The selectors will be happy that he made a century in his maiden innings after being recalled. He has basically replaced Niroshan Dickwella in the starting XI, who had not reached a century in 96 Test innings.
The 14th of his career, Chandimal’s century was an old pro’s innings. He started the day on 18, and as the first two wickets went at the other end, he gradually got into the day. To prevent Chandimal from using his preferred legside strokes, Ireland attempted to stack the offside and bowl wide of off stump to him.
However, Chandimal seemed unconcerned by these attempts as he continued to find boundaries over cover and the deep third, as well as on occasion down the ground.
If the umpire had ruled Chandimal lbw despite Ben White’s leg spin, he might have been out on 55. Ireland reviewed the play, but not enough of the leg stump was being struck for the on-field ruling to be overturned.
In the second half of the middle session, Chandimal reached 100 with a cover driven four. Samarawickrama then completed his own first trip to triple figures with two consecutive boundaries. After that, Sri Lanka declared the game over.
The review of Ireland’s bowling was not appealing. Spinners McBrine, White, and Dockrell each took a wicket, although they also combined to give up 393 runs. The seamers performed a little better, with Adair taking 1 for 95 and Campher taking 2 for 84 from his 21 overs.
Adair had to leave the field during an over in the first session due to what was thought to be an intercostal injury. But he came back later to cast more spells.