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Ireland took full advantage of ideal batting conditions and a tired Sri Lankan bowling attack to pile up 492 all out before the host responded by reaching 81 for no loss at Stumps on day two of the second test on Tuesday.
Nishan Madushka was unbeaten on 41 in only his third Test match, and Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Kurunaratne remained not out on 39 when play was suspended 30 minutes before the scheduled close due to bad light and rain.
Earlier, Ireland reached its highest Test score by a distance, surpassing its previous best of 339 against Pakistan in 1998 in Dublin.
The Sri Lankan bowling looked uninspired for the best part of the day and was sent on a leather hunt by Paul Stirling (103) and Curtis Campher (111) who scored their maiden centuries.
They joined Kevin O’Brien and Lorcan Tucker as Irish Test centurions in the country’s short Test cricket history.
Although they lost Tucker for 80 early in the day, bowled by Vishwa Fernando, the Irish counter-attack continued with Stirling and Campher dominating the morning session. Stirling then fell soon after hitting his ton, half an hour before lunch break.
Stirling had resumed his innings on 74, having retired out on day one following a cramp. He hit a six over point off seamer Asitha Fernando to bring up his century under scorching heat in Galle.
Having hit nine boundaries and four sixes in his 181-ball innings, he was attempting to go for another maximum over the fine-leg boundary but fell for the short ball, hitting Asitha Fernando straight to Dhananjaya de Silva on the boundary. Stirling and Campher shared a partnership of 64 for the sixth wicket and Ireland took lunch at 399 for six.
Campher and Andy McBrine further compounded Sri Lanka’s misery by adding 89 for the seventh wicket. McBrine departed for 35, caught by Dushan Hemantha off Vishwa before Campher became one of Prabath Jayasuriya’s five scalps in the match. He was brilliantly caught by a diving Dhananjaya at slips as Ireland lost its eighth wicket on 476.
Campher’s inning lasted over five hours and had 15 boundaries and two sixes. Jayasuriya is now just two wickets away from becoming the fastest to 50 Test wickets. He is playing his seventh match and claimed five for 174 in a marathon 58.3-over spell. Seamers Vishwa and Asitha claimed two wickets apiece.
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