Karunaratne, Mendis plunder centuries

Sri Lanka’s Captain Dimuth Karunaratne (L) and Kusal Mendis run between the wickets during the first day of the first cricket Test match between Sri Lanka and Ireland at the Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle on 16 April 2023 – AFP

Ireland’s wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker celebrates after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews (R) during the first day of the first cricket Test match between Sri Lanka and Ireland at the Galle International Cricket Stadium in Galle on 16 April 2023 - AFP 

• Minnows Ireland face long haul in first Test

Test minnows Ireland found out the hard way what Test cricket is all about when their bowlers were put to the sword by two of the best batsmen in the Sri Lanka Test side skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis who scored centuries on the opening day of the first cricket Test played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday.  

By the end of an arduous hot and humid day the Irish team trudged wearily back to their dressing room as Sri Lanka winning the toss and batting first on a belter of a pitch cruised to an imposing 386-4.

Ireland’s only success of the first session came in the 15th over when Nishan Madushka opening the innings for the first time in his second Test edged a catch behind the wicket to Lorcan Tucker off Curtis Camphor for 29 ending an opening stand of 64 with Karunaratne.

From there onwards it was the Karunaratne-Mendis show as they took full control of the hapless Irish attack and hit them to all parts of the ground putting on a second wicket partnership of 281 off 355 balls that was not broken until the 74th over.

Ireland who had persevered all day under steaming conditions finally had some success in the final session when they snapped up the wickets of the two centurions Mendis for 144 and Karunaratne for 179 and also Angelo Mathews for a duck. 

Left-arm spinner George Dockrell trapped Mendis lbw on the sweep, Mathews edged a catch behind the wicket off a wide delivery from leg-spinner Ben White, and Karunaratne’s 371 minutes of patience was ended when he threw his bat at a delivery from seamer Mark Adair and edged a catch to Tucker for his third dismissal of the innings, shortly before the close.    

Mendis, a well-organised player is a difficult customer to bowl to once he gets in. He was good to watch in the 260 minutes he spent at the wicket displaying an array of strokes that brought him 18 fours and a six. He reached his ninth Test century with a four and a one-handed hit for six off Andy McBrine which broke the shackles the Ireland bowlers had imposed on him and Karunaratne in the first hour of the afternoon where the first nine overs of spin produced only 23 runs.

Karunaratne made it very difficult for the Irish bowlers manoeuvring the ball around and holding up one end, which enabled Mendis to play risk free cricket. The Lankan skipper was determined to make this innings a big one reaching the boundary on 15 occasions in the 235 balls he faced. Starved of Test cricket for the year with Sri Lanka scheduled to play only six matches, Karunaratne made use of the opportunity to reach his 15th Test century off 139 balls inclusive of seven fours and brought up his 150 off 190 balls (13 fours). He looked assured in his stroke play working the ball around nicely in a chanceless innings to make his fifth score of over 50 in his last six Test innings. His last Test hundred was scored in March 2022 against India at Bangalore and since then he had made eight fifties.  

After experiencing tough conditions in New Zealand where the ball swung and bounced a lot, the Irish bowling to the Lankan batters was like a breath of fresh air. On a perfect batting strip, they made merry.

Unfortunately for the Irish they lost the toss which meant that they had to spend the first day of the Test in sweltering heat. Ireland was tested physically and mentally in these hot and humid conditions with temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius and high humidity of 75%. For a country that experiences summer temperatures not higher than 15-20 degrees Celsius it was asking a lot and it was a real test for the Irish bowlers to try and contain the run flow in conditions and a pitch they are not familiar with. The heat affected their bowlers’ lines and lengths which were inconsistent.

Sri Lanka included two seamers in their bowling attack and Sadeera Samarawickrama made his way back to the Test side for the first time in five years. He will keep wickets in a Test for the first time. The first four Tests he played was purely as a batsman. Ireland made one change from the Test against Bangladesh with evergreen left-arm spinner George Dockrell coming in for Graham Hume.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s decision to allow free entry for the public to witness the Test series against Ireland brought in a fair number of spectators who braved the hot and humid conditions. Fans can enter the stadium via Gate Number 4 of the stadium on match days.