Sri Lanka beat Ireland by innings and 280 runs: Team's biggest win in Test history
Sri Lanka beat Ireland by innings and 280 runs: the team's biggest win in Test history, with four centuries in the match
Sri Lanka defeated Ireland by innings and 280 runs on the third day itself in the first match of the two-match Test series. This is Sri Lanka's biggest win in terms of innings in Test cricket. Sri Lanka has taken a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The second match will be played on April 24. Prabhat Jayasuriya was adjudged Player of the Match. Jayasuriya took 10 wickets for 108 runs in both innings. Karunaratne and Mendis shared a record 281 runs for the second wicket.
Sri Lanka had declared the first innings by scoring 591 runs for six wickets. In response, Ireland was forced to follow on after scoring 143 runs in the first innings. In the second innings too, Ireland's team could only score 168 runs, which helped Sri Lanka register its biggest win in history. Ireland lost 13 wickets during the third day's play.
Four players scored centuries in the first innings for Sri Lanka. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne scored the highest innings of 179 runs for Sri Lanka. Apart from that, Kusal Mendis scored 140, Sadeera Samarvikrama scored 104 not out and Dinesh Chandimal scored 102 runs. Curtis Campher took two wickets for Ireland. Apart from this, Andy McBrine, George Dockrell, Ben White and Mark Adair took one wicket each.
Jayasuriya took a career-best seven wickets for 52 runs in the first innings. After this, he took three wickets for 56 runs in the second innings. Jayasuriya's spin partner Ramesh Mendis took four for 76 in the second innings and five wickets in the match. Mendis touched the mark of 50 Test wickets in the 11th match and became the fastest Sri Lankan bowler to take 50 Test wickets during this period.