SL vs IRE 2nd Test Match Prediction

SL vs IRE Team Previews

Sri Lanka

It was Prabath Jayasuriya who ensured that the Ireland first inning did not get too far while chasing a mammoth Sri Lankan total. Jayasuriya eventually finished with a 10-fer in this game. He picked up 2 out of the last 3 wickets to fall. Sri Lanka needless to say enforced a follow-on but Ireland found things to be difficult in their second attempt as well. The spinner Prabath Jayasuriya was well-aided in the Ireland second inning by Ramesh Mendis who together picked up 7 wickets from Irish second innings. These two bowled 44 out of the 54 overs bowled in the Ireland second inning.

The innings victory in the first test was the largest-ever win for Sri Lanka in test matches. This win could have been with a larger margin if not for some stiff resistance from the Irish lower order. Ireland was 40 for 5 at one stage when the Sri Lankan Vishwa Fernando started an Ireland top-order slide. After he had picked up a couple of wickets the Lankan spinners got into the act and removed the middle order clinically. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat on this track in Galle. They posted a huge total of 596 for 6 on the board.

As many as four batters hit hundreds in the Sri Lankan innings. The top scorer for them in this inning was the skipper Dimuth Karunaratne. He struck 179 runs from 235 balls with 15 fours. Kusal Mendis also scored 140 runs from 193 balls. In the lower middle order, Dinesh Chandimal also scored a hundred and was well-supported by Sadeera Samarawickrama who also hit a hundred. The last two batters remained not out in the Sri Lankan inning that was declared just short of the 600-run mark.

Ireland

The Ireland batting was troubled by the Lankan spinners right throughout the game. They never looked like crossing the 200-run mark in this test in either of their innings. It was some later-order resistance from the Lankan lower order that allowed them to cross the 150-run mark in the second innings. Curtis Campher was the only bowler from the Ireland team that picked up 2 wickets. He picked these scalps from 21 overs giving away 84 runs in the process. Other successful Irish bowlers in the Sri Lankan inning were Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Ben White, and George Dockrell.

The Ireland first inning ran into troubled waters right from the outset. Vishwa Fernando picked up a couple of early wickets to send the Irish batting order reeling under pressure. There was a brief partnership between James McCollum and Harry Tector who scored 35 and 34 runs respectively for Ireland. The wicket-keeper batsman Lorcan Tucker provided a useful hand right near the end of the Irish first innings by scoring 45 runs from 73 balls with 7 fours. Jayasuriya was the pick of Sri Lankan bowlers picking up 7 wickets. He was supported by Fernando and Ramesh Mendis also picked up a victim.

After having been bowled out for 143 runs from 52.3 overs, the Irish outfit was asked to bat again as Sri Lanka. The Irish second inning again ran into problems at the outset with Vishwa Fernando picking up a couple of top-order batters to reduce them to 24 for 3. But Harry Tector played a useful hand of 42 runs from 95 balls for Ireland. Some good lower-order contributions from Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, and Mark Adair took the Ireland score beyond the 150-run mark. Ramesh Mendis was the most successful Lankan bowler in the second inning with a 4-wicket haul.