2nd Test: Mendis takes five wickets as Sri Lanka crush Ireland to seal series cricket news
The hosts won the two-match series 2-0 in Galle, registering their 100th Test win and leaving the tourists in search of their first win in the longest format of cricket.
Harry Tector A final day’s rearguard action with the bat saw the side scoring 85 and sharing a 41-run partnership for the ninth wicket, but Mendis took 5-64 as Ireland were bowled out for 202 in their second innings.
Asitha Fernando bowled Tector with a yorker to end the resistance and Ben White was responsible for another emphatic win in style in the very next ball.
The visitors posted 492 in their first innings – among the highest scores after an innings defeat.
After Sri Lanka declared on 704–3, Ireland resumed their second innings at 54–2, hoping to seal a draw on a still good track for batting.
But Jayasuriya dismissed Paul Stirling in the fourth over of the morning to become the fastest spinner to take 50 wickets in just seven Tests.
Alf Valentine, a fellow West Indian left-hander, had reached the milestone eight games more than seven decades earlier.
Mendis removed Curtis Campher in the first innings when he took a wicket in the hands of Kusal Mendis at leg-slip and took his third wicket of the innings when captain Andy Balbirnie removed Angelo Mathews straightaway for 46.
Mendis then dismissed Andy McBrine and Graham Hume in successive overs to claim his fourth five-wicket haul.
Sri Lanka won the first Test by an innings and 280 runs.
