Ireland made it easy for us by setting white ball fields: Dimuth

Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne

Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne said that Test newcomers Ireland’s inexperience in the longer format helped his side greatly to win the first Test which ended on day three at Galle yesterday.

Sri Lanka won quite convincingly by an innings after racking up a mammoth total of 591-6 declared with four batsmen including Karunaratne contributing centuries.

“For a Test player the real test is to be able to adapt to any conditions against any bowling attack. New Zealand was a quality bowling team but the Ireland bowling line-up we cannot underestimate. They bowled well in patches,” said Karunaratne at the post-match press conference.

“The drawback was because Ireland has not played long in this format, their field settings and their bowling lines and lengths were not up to the mark. They have been playing so much white ball cricket and they used similar fields for the Test match also. That made it a little easy for us because there were a lot of single options available to us. But as they continue to play, they will correct these shortcomings in Test cricket. It is also a challenge for their players to come here and learn how to play in these conditions against our bowling unit.”

Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie put his team’s defeat down to tough conditions and the absence of playing red ball cricket.

“Sri Lanka has played a lot of Test cricket in these conditions. We fought in stages of the game but not long enough. We knew it was challenging and what it is like to play Test cricket in the last three days. It’s tough because we know we want to perform well in these games but it is very tricky. We must learn very quickly and learn on our feet and hopefully produce that form in the next game.”

“You can’t be critical of the players. They are really trying their hardest to be competitive at this level. But it is difficult when you come up against a team who in their home conditions are as good as anyone.”

“It’s tough cricket. After the first day there were a lot of sore bodies. I’ve been through that too often but it’s all about bouncing back. We are not putting expectations on the players, we just want them to express themselves and enjoy this challenge. It is tough and it is only going to get tougher,” Balbirnie said. – [ST]