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After Sri Lanka clinched a comfortable win of an inning and 10 runs against Ireland in the second Test, Captain Dimuth Karunaratne said that the runs scored by the batters in the match would boost their confidence.
"Runs matter for the batters, it will boost their confidence," he said in the post-match presentation after winning the trophy. Sri Lanka outplayed the Ireland side in the second test to win the test series 2-0 on Friday. They won the match on the 5th day with an innings and 10 runs in Galle. The Lankan skipper said that the pitch was favouring batters but the bowlers bowled well. "Pitch was very different, it was a batter-friendly track. The bowlers bowled really well, the fast bowlers and Ramesh Mendis, the way he bounced back." Ireland in the first innings scored 492 runs with the Paul Stirling (103), Curtis Campher (111), Andrew Balbirnie (95) and Lorcan Tucker (80) making major contributions. "If they could get 500, of course we could get more than 500, I knew that. Dhananjaya couldn't get a big one, but I know he will bounce back. Rest of them chipped in with good contributions. I asked the bowlers to give their best with rain around the corner. The way Asitha Fernando bowled and got reverse swing, that was amazing. We need such performances in away matches. The way Ramesh Mendis bowled, I know he can do much better than that. Hope he'll do well against Pakistan in the upcoming series," Karunaratne added. Prabath Jayasuriya was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka, taking a five-wicket haul and delivering 13 maiden overs. Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando took two wickets each while Ramesh Mendis also got one dismissal in the first innings. Sri Lanka's batters proved more than a match for Ireland. Nishan Madushka (205) and Kusal Mendia (245) clinched double hundreds. Captain Karunaratne's (115) and Angelo Mathews's (100) centuries helped the team reach a mammoth total of 704. Sri Lanka declared their innings at 704/3 Graham Hume, Andy Mcbrine and Curtis Campher took one wicket each for Ireland. In the second innings of the Irish team, only Harry Tector (85) showed some mettle with little contribution from Andrew (46). They were bowled out on 202. For Sri Lanka, Ramesh Mendis took five scalps. Asitha Fernando dismissed three batters and Prabath Jayasuriya took two wickets. (ANI)
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