Day 1: Sri Lanka 386-4 (88 ovs) (Dimuth Karunaratne 179, Kusal Mendis 140) v Ireland
Two late wickets gave Ireland some scant consolation on an otherwise dominant day one for Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle as Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis both scored centuries as the home side piled on 386 runs for the loss of four wickets.
Karunaratne won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat first on a placid Galle wicket. He nearly carried his bat through the day’s play, scoring his 15th Test century and putting on a big second-wicket partnership with Mendis worth 281 runs, the highest-ever Test partnership at Galle.
Ireland made two crucial breakthroughs at the end of a long day in the field however, as Mendis and then Angelo Mathews fell within three overs of each other. Mathews only lasted three balls before taking a wild swipe at a delivery from Ben White, out for his fifth Test match duck.
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Sri Lanka had started positively early in the day, racing to 40-0 after the first 10 overs of the Test. With minimal assistance in the pitch for the seamers, Mark Adair was into the attack early in the day but gave little respite for the Ireland fielders, Karunaratne taking two boundaries off his first over.
As the scoring rate continued to increase, Ireland found a much-needed breakthrough in the first hour as Curtis Campher took his first Test wicket with a ripper of a delivery to dismiss Nishan Madushka for 29. The ball just nipped away from an off stump line to take the outside edge of Madushka’s bat through to Lorcan Tucker behind the stumps.
However, that was to be the last wicket for over two sessions worth of play. Karunaratne reached his half-century before lunch off 69 balls, with Mendis going into the break on 33 – 119 runs scored in the session.
The middle session was particularly bruising for Ireland as the Sri Lanka heat reached its peak. Mendis hit the first maximum of the day, smashing Andy McBrine high over long-on to bring up his half-century. The hundred partnership came up two overs later.
As Ireland toiled without success, the run rate crept back up over four again and, less than two overs after the partnership passed the 150 milestone, Karunaratne reached his hundred with a front-foot drive through cover. In four Test innings this year, Karunaratne has passed fifty in all but one of them; this was his first century since March last year against India in Bengaluru.
Mendis was also closing in on his century but would have to wait until after the interval to pass three figures. Between them, Mendis and Karunaratne scored 126 runs off 28 overs in the afternoon session. It took Mendis five balls to move from 94 to his hundred. He reached the milestone with a single to backward point, having ramped Adair to the boundary for four off the previous delivery.
The two batters continued their march deep into the evening session, bringing up the 200-run stand by taking 10 runs of one McBrine over. After a first scare for Sri Lanka in several hours – Ireland losing a review checking a caught behind – the partnership became the highest ever in a Test at Galle. It passed the previous record of 267 set by Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim for Bangladesh in 2013.
But, just as Ireland faced the realistic possibility of taking just the single wicket in the day, George Dockrell made the breakthrough. He trapped Mendis LBW looking for the sweep – the review from Mendis showed all three reds to give Dockrell some reward after he conceded 59 runs from his previous 10 overs.
Two overs later, and Ireland had their third. Mathews chased a short and wide delivery from White, the ball taking a feather from his top edge and through to the keeper. A bonus for the tourists at the end of a difficult day.
Karunaratne’s extraordinary innings also came to an end before the close of play. He was caught behind for 179, playing the shot of a batter who had been at the crease all day, wafting his bat outside off and finding a nick.
