And that should be that! Ireland have reviewed this LBW, but it looked plumb. This pitched on middle and off on a good length, straightened and went past the outside edge on the forward defence, and struck the back pad right in front of off stump. And yup, the three reds confirms that Sri Lanka have won by an innings at 280 runs!
And that concludes our coverage for this first Test. Thanks for keeping us company, and join us again on Monday for the start of the second Test. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for Fidel's report which should be up shortly. On behalf of Shashwat, this is Madushka signing off!
Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne: "First of all I just wanted to make sure that I got a big one. In the Australia series I got starts, but I wanted three figures. The key was patience. As for Ireland they're new to this format, they're still learning, but I thought they were very good and will improve in the future. They bowled well, we just wanted to apply ourselves for the first hour, and after that we knew how to play spin and bat in these conditions. Sadeera was very key, I knew from the A Team as well, he's a hard worker. He's done well for the A Team and the NSL, so I knew he would do well when given a chance. Even the fielding was really good, need to mention Nishan Madushka, those catches were brilliant. That's the kind of attitude I want from our fielders, even though I know the conditions are difficult. [Prabath Jayasuriya] knew what he had to do, I don't need to do anything at all, he knows exactly what's needed."
Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie: "It's another Test match under the belt for a lot of our cricketers. A lot of us want to play Test cricket but we got a real taste of that over the last three days. We knew coming into it that it would be very testing, Sri Lanka at home are a daunting prospect for any team, never mind a team that hasn't played a lot of Test cricket. Certainly there's learnings but we've got to find a way compete better. We had one Test [in Bangladesh] which prepared us for this one, but it's still probably not enough preparation. A lot of our focus in the last few years has been white-ball so we need to play more and more red-ball to gain that experience. Sometime [the transition from white-ball to red-ball cricket] can be quite big, but we've got to find ways to make it smaller, and find a way to transition those skills."
Prabath Jayasuriya is unsurprisingly the Player of the Match: "I'm always trying to do the basics, don't experiment too much. This was a similar wicket to the matches we played against Pakistan and Australia. There was some drift because of the wind, so enjoyed using that as well."
Stay tuned for the presentation ceremony.
David: "This is tough love for Ireland- it's a long way to Tipperary.. "
Stephen: "Ben White seems to do better when he plays for Arsenal." Took three days, but I'm glad someone finally made this reference.
3.33pm So that's a record innings victory for Sri Lanka, as they take a 1-0 lead in this series, inside of three days. Prabath Jayasuriya takes the match ball with 10 wickets for the innings, adding three in the second to go with his seven in the first. Ramesh Mendis had the best innings figures second time around taking 4 for 76, and in the process equalled the record for the fastest Sri Lankan to 50 Test wickets, reaching it in 11 Tests but less innings than Dilruwan Perera. Ireland fought in spells today, but the record will nevertheless show they lost 13 wickets in the day. Galle is a tough challenge for most sides, let alone one playing just their fifth Test, but the experience they take away from it will be invaluable. And they'll need it too, because they'll have to do it all again next week.
Good length outside off, straightens at takes the inside edge well to the left of short leg
Galen: "SL need to wrap this up for less than 194 to get a record winning margin for them."
MW: "9th wicket partnership of 35 a new record for Ireland!" Make that 36. Though considering this is just their 5th Test, feel like we'll be getting a whole host of such "new records".
Sri Lanka now one away.
Thinks long and hard, and eventually the finger goes up for LBW! Ireland review. This pitched outside off from around the wicket, and then spun back sharply past the inside edge on to the front knee roll. Dharmasena took his time, and in the end he was spot on, as this shows three reds.
tossed up on off, driven down to long-off
good length, pitches on leg and spins past the stumps. Left by the batter
Around the wicket now
short of a length outside off, turning in. Gets back and across and whips this to deep square once more
short, turning in towards middle. Pulled to deep square for one
Induces the edge on the forward defence, with one that pitched on off and straightened, but this falls short of second slip
Lifted straight of mid-off for four! This was tossed up enticing the drive, and Dockrell obliges. But he gets this lofted drive straight enough of the man at mid-off despite not quite getting the elevation he would've liked
good length on off, forward defence to silly point
Silly point in place now
tossed up outside off, 81kph, plants a front foot outside off and defends
good length, straighter. Solid forward defence
good length on off, goes back and punches this straight to short cover
Jayasuriya with a change of ends
goes back and across to this length ball and works it off the hips for one through midwicket
Lofted down the ground! Tossed up outside off, and Dockrell closes the face on this drive but still gets it hard and straight enough to find the boundary
good length outside off, turning in. Gets forward outside the line and defends
length outside off, goes back and punches this towards mid-off this time
short of a length on off, back foot punch to midwicket
length outside off, goes back and across and works this towards midwicket
Comes down the track and smacks this low and hard back and Dhananjaya, who gets a hand on it to save the single
1W | 2W | 2W | ||
1W | 1W | |||
1W | ||||
1W | 1W | |||
1W | ||||
Galle International Stadium | |
Toss | Sri Lanka, elected to bat first |
Series | |
Season | 2023 |
Player Of The Match | |
Series result | Sri Lanka led the 2-match series 1-0 |
Match number | Test no. 2502 |
Hours of play (local time) | 10.00 start, Lunch 12.00-12.40, Tea 14.40-15.00, Close 17.00 |
Match days | 16,17,18 April 2023 - day (5-day match) |
Umpires | |
TV Umpire | |
Reserve Umpire | |
Match Referee |