SL vs IRE 1st Test Match Prediction

SL vs IRE Team Previews

Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan team management has decided to drop Dickwella from their side and has opted for recalling Embuldeniya for the 1st test match against Ireland. This move to drop the wicket-keeping batsman Niroshan Dickwella from the 15-member team for the first test against the Irish outfit has come as a surprise to many. The Sri Lankan board has decided to include Sadeera Samarawickrama and Nishan Madushka as their wicket-keeping alternatives for this match. Some key members of the team that played against New Zealand such as the quick bowlers Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha have been rested for this game.

Some other players such as Oshada Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, and Asitha Fernando have been left out of these matches. As the Sri Lankan team is playing in their home conditions, it is expected that they will place a lot of emphasis on spin bowlers to take charge of the bowling attack. The left-arm spinner for Lanka, Lasith Embuldeniya has been called back to the team and they will also play a new leg spinner Dushan Hemantha for this match. Madushka played his first game for Sri Lanka in the recently concluded test match against New Zealand in Wellington where he took the place of Dickwella who failed with the bat in the earlier game.

Samarawickrama is making a return to the test matches after a long time. He played 4 tests as a specialized batsman in 2017. Dimuth Karunaratne has decided to step down as the Sri Lankan captain after this series. He has informed this decision to the selectors. This series between Ireland and Sri Lanka is not a part of the WTC cycle however will complete the scheduled number of games for Sri Lanka in this period. Sri Lanka has managed to play 8 test matches in the last year. They have gone through a gap of more than 6 months for a home test series after playing a series against Australia.

Ireland

Initially, the Ireland team was scheduled to play one test and two one-day international matches in Sri Lanka in this series. But this tour was extended and another test match was included in the series. One of the top batters for Ireland is Paul Stirling. He will be joining forces with the Irish outfit for this test series for the second match. The original Ireland tour of Sri Lanka was scheduled for one test and two one-day internationals. But, the host country Sri Lanka was trying to get more red ball experience and as a result, the two ODI games were replaced by an additional test.

This is the first test match assignment for Ireland that is not a one-off test series. This also means that by the end of the summer, Ireland would have doubled their test match count. They also have another one-off test match against England scheduled for June at Lords in England. After earning a test match status in 2017, they have played 3 test matches to date. All of them were played in a home series against Pakistan, against Afghanistan, and one against England in 2019 in Lords. Both Sri Lanka and Ireland are precariously positioned in the Super League points table for ODI games. They are sitting in number 10 and number 11 positions at the moment. 

Ireland is going into this test series after four losses in a row in their last 4 attempts against Afghanistan, England, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The last test match Ireland played was against Bangladesh earlier in the month. Bangladesh won that game easily with a margin of 7 wickets. Batting first, Ireland scored 214 runs in their first innings. Bangladesh replied with a score of 369 runs in their first innings. The Irish second innings folded at 292 runs and the Bangladesh team managed to chase down the target of 138 runs with the loss of 3 wickets only.