Jayasuriya picks up ten in the 2nd Test as Sri Lanka roll Ireland over for innings victory

In Galle, Sri Lanka, Ireland’s collapse continued on day three as the island country’s spinners twice scythed through them to win by an innings and 280 runs, with Prabath Jayasuriya taking a 10-wicket haul.

Here, Ireland was destined to have difficulty. Without even a practice game to acclimate them, they were thrown into the punishing April heat without ever having played in Sri Lanka before. 

However, unlike their encounter against Bangladesh, which they lost by a slim margin of seven wickets at Mirpur earlier this month, when they had shown some promise, they hardly ever put together competitive stretches during this Test.

Ireland lost 20 wickets for 311 runs as Sri Lanka collected 591 runs for the cost of only six wickets. In their whole innings, they only had two fifty-run partnerships, both of which Harry Tector was a member of. 

The greatest individual score Ireland had was 45 (Lorcan Tucker in the first innings), four Sri Lankan batsmen had already reached the century mark.

Three days of wickets sped by. Ireland started the day with 117 for 7, but after adding 23 to their overnight total, they lost their final three games in a heap, bringing their total to 143. Tucker was trapped lbw by Jayasuriya, who also added two wickets to his five-wicket total from the previous day. 

Two more balls were stumped by Mark Adair. The innings was soon put to an end by offspinner Ramesh Mendis, who lbw’d Andy McBrine with a sliding delivery. The not-out judgment was later reversed on review.

With Ireland still down by 448 runs and his bowlers having only bowled fewer than 53 overs in the first innings, captain Dimuth Karunaratne probably had few regrets about requiring the follow-on.

Ireland’s main threat in the second innings would be Mendis, who had some rhythm issues on day two. However, he did not make his first stride until left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando had taken the lead. Murray Commins was struck out by Fernando for a duck, just as in the opening innings, despite the batter having two hits. 

Then, by seaming a back of a length delivery away to gather his edge, he also took out captain Andy Balbirnie for the second time in the game. A quick catch at slip was held onto by Dhananjaya de Silva.

The spinners then seized control. James McCollum was caught by Jayasuriya at slip, and de Silva made another excellent grab. In the batter’s subsequent over, he also effectively got Tucker out by throwing him out by ball. 

The second outstanding catch Mendis had made in that situation was Nishan Madushka’s athletic short leg catch of Peter Moor.

The only partnership that Ireland ever managed was between Tector and Curtis Campher, who put up 60 for the sixth wicket before another fantastic Madushka grab put an end to it. 

Madushka shifted to his right, anticipating the trajectory of the shot, and got both hands to the opportunity, which arrived at about knee-height, as he saw Campher coming down for a paddle sweep.

After that, a day-three finish appeared to be impossible. In his 54-ball 32, George Dockrell hit six boundaries, but Mendis persisted. And to make matters worse for Ireland, Tector was run out by Dockrell, who turned Tector around after Tector had called for an idiotic single. Tector then stumbled in the middle of the pitch, dropped his bat as he turned, and fell short by more than a metre as he attempted to dive back in.

Mendis tied Ajantha Mendis’ Sri Lankan record for fastest bowler to 50 wickets when he got Mcbrine to be caught at gully. Both bowlers accomplished this feat in 11 Tests. 

However, Mendis has only participated in two Tests outside of Sri Lanka, and eight of those Tests have taken place in Galle, a venue famed for favoring spinners.

With the final wicket of the match, Jayasuriya, who had been battling for a ten-wicket haul, got Ben White square in front with a straightening delivery.