Ramesh Mendis took a five-for and Prabath Jayasuriya became the fastest-ever spinner to 50 Test wickets as Sri Lanka completed an innings and 10 run rout of Ireland in the second Test in Galle yesterday. The hosts swept the two-match series 2-0, recording their 100th Test win.
Harry Tector fought a lone last-day rearguard action to try to bat out a draw, scoring 85 and mounting a 41-run stand for the ninth wicket, but Mendis took 5-64 as Ireland were bowled out for 202.
Asitha Fernando bowled Tector a yorker to end the resistance and accounted for last man Ben White with the very next ball to wrap up the win.The visitors had posted 492 in their first innings — among the highest-ever scores to be followed by an innings defeat.
Ireland resumed on 54 for two hoping to hold on for a draw on a track still good for batting.But Jayasuriya dismissed Paul Stirling in the fourth over of the morning to become the quickest-ever spinner to take 50 wickets, in just seven Tests. Fellow left-armer Alf Valentine of West Indies had taken eight games to the milestone more than seven decades earlier.
Mendis removed first-innings centurion Curtis Campher when he swept one straight into the hands of Kusal Mendis at leg-slip, and took his third wick of the innings when captain Andy Balbirnie drove one to Angelo Mathews at mid-off on 46.
Mendis then dismissed Andy McBrine and Graham Hume in successive overs to claim his fourth five-wicket haul.Sri Lanka had won the first Test by an innings and 280 runs.
