Big picture: Ireland bank on toss to bat long
It happens. Ireland are playing their first ever two-Test series, and were thrust into a furnace. Not only do they have to play in April, when the air is extraordinarily sticky, but the surface at Galle is also perhaps as different from their home tracks as can be imagined. There was some help for the seamers early, but in such testing conditions, they were unable to be consistently menacing.
And though there were plenty of spin options, they did not display the kind of skill and discipline that would have made them a challenge in the first two days.
Ireland’s biggest hope of competing in the second Test is to win the toss, and thus, ensure they have the best of the batting conditions, which generally come into play after lunch on the first day. So long as they bat a few sessions in the first innings, this also means they’ll get to set their spinners loose when the track is beginning to wear.
Form guide
(completed matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka WLLWL
Ireland LLLLL
In the spotlight: Dimuth Karunaratne and Andy McBrine
Through the course of his captaincy, Dimuth Karunaratne has been Sri Lanka’s best batter. In fact, he has likely been their best player, full stop. Through the course of 50 innings at the helm, he has hit seven hundreds and 12 fifties, averaging 50.43. He has also frequently been in the ICC’s team of the year, as an opening batter. Karunaratne is one of those players who is motivated by statistics – it’ll mean something to him if he can finish the captaincy portion of his career with an average of over 50, if this is his final game in charge.
Team news
Sri Lanka are unlikely to change their XI.
Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Nishan Madushka, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Dhananjaya de Silva, 7 Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), 8 Ramesh Mendis, 9 Prabath Jayasuriya, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Vishwa Fernando
Ireland might bring in Paul Stirling, flown in especially for this match, owing perhaps to his experience in Sri Lanka (he has played in the Lanka Premier League). He might replace opener Murray Commins, who bagged a pair in the first Test.
Ireland (possible): 1 James McCollum, 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 6 Peter Moor, 7 Curtis Campher, 8 George Dockrell, 9 Andy McBrine, 10 Mark Adair, 11 Ben White
Pitch and conditions
There was a modicum of rain on the eve of the Test in Galle, but expect much of the same – scorching heat, stifling humidity, and a pitch that starts to take turn on day two. This time of year, the sea breeze that usually comes across the ground from July to September, is not as strong as it usually is.
Stats and trivia
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf