Sri Lanka took revenge on the inexperienced Irish bowlers who had a horrid day with the ball conceding 276 runs in just 58.5 overs on Day 3 in the 2nd Test at Galle International Stadium yesterday. 

The opening pair of Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madhushka had a stunning partnership of 228 runs for the first wicket. The Skipper was the faster of the two, punishing all loose deliveries and showing his class with the bat. He brought up the century in just 116 balls, in what could be his last innings as the captain of the test side. 

The pair brought up only the 5th 200-run stand for the first wicket in Test history for the hosts. Unfortunately, Karunaratne got rattled by a couple of short bumpers from Curtis Campher and ultimately gifted his wicket away at the stroke of lunch. 

The second session was no different from the first. In fact, it was worse for the visiting Irish who went all around the park. Kusal Mendis was middling the ball from the word go while Madhushka continued to milk the runs. 

He had a life in the post lunch session but Andy Balbirnie at slip missed a dolly off the bowling of Andy McBrine. 

Sri Lanka would have been disappointed with the loss of overs. On the last two days 47 overs were lost due to the rain. 

Sri Lanka 1st Innings 

Nishan Madushka not out 149

Dimuth Karunaratne (c) c Humphreys b Campher 115

Kusal Mendis not out 83

Extras 10 (lb 8, nb 1, w 1)

TOTAL 357/1 in 77 Ov (RR: 4.63)

Yet to bat: Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama †, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando 

Fall of wickets: 1-228 (Dimuth Karunaratne, 48.4 ov)

Bowling

Graham Hume (10-1-45-0), Andy McBrine (26-2-85-0), Curtis Campher (12-1-47-1), Matthew Humphreys (8-0-56-0), Ben White (17-0-91-0), Harry Tector (4-0-25-0) 

Pic by Pradeep Dambarage