Sri Lanka thrash Ireland by an innings and 280 runs in first Test

GALLE: Sri Lanka thrashed Ireland by an innings and 280 runs on Tuesday, in one of the biggest winning margins in Test history and the largest by the South Asian nation.

In what was also Ireland’s biggest defeat to date, the visitors were all out for 168 on day three in a hot and humid Galle International Stadium.

It was the 12th-largest innings victory in Test history, behind England’s win over the West Indies in 2007 by an innings and 283 runs.

Sri Lanka’s previous biggest win was when they hammered Zimbabwe by an innings and 254 runs in 2004 in Bulawayo.

Sri Lanka in their first innings declared on a mammoth 591 for 6.

Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne top scored with 179 runs while Kusal Mendis posted 140. Dinesh Chandimal and Sadeera Samarawickrama then hit unbeaten hundreds.

Sri Lanka then bowled out Ireland for 143 and enforced the follow-on, finishing the job just after tea on day three.

Prabath Jayasuriya took three wickets in Ireland’s second innings, adding to his seven in the first innings.

Ireland’s Harry Tector top-scored for the visitors in the second innings with 42.

Ireland have now lost all five of their matches since securing Test status in 2017.