Ireland won the toss and WTS Porterfield (Captain of Irish team) selected to bowl first. Watch Online Sri Lanka tour of England and Ireland 2016 Highlights Today, 1st ODI: Ire v SL at Dublin (Malahide), Thursday, June 16, 2016. Dasun Shanaka bowls in an unassuming, wicket-to-wicket manner and has the batting physique of an inconspicuous nurdler. As a cricket player, he begs for undervaluation.
Throughout his young international career, he has only ever used the bat or the ball—never both. However, he combined the two disciplines to deliver a sensational victory to Sri Lanka in his ODI debut against Ireland at Malahide. There are good first impressions and then this. After smashing 42 off 19 balls to start the day, Shanaka became only the 12th bowler in ODI history to take five wickets in his first over fifty overs.
It was all enough for Sri Lanka to win by 76 runs thanks to a D/L recalculation following the rain. He has enjoyed humiliating people who have disparaged him during the whole year. In a domestic Twenty20 match in January, he was hit for six on sixteen of the 46 deliveries that the Saracens Sports Club bowled to him. He made 3 for 16 in a T20I against India in February after being employed as a relief bowler.
His name seemed a little out of place in the visiting party of Sri Lanka in May, but his performance in game 112 against Leicestershire propelled him into the Test squad. When he arrived, he quickly removed three of England’s top four players in the space of eight balls. Shanaka was brought on more in hope than expectation, same as in the First Test at Headingley, with Angelo Matthews having to break through a frustrating opening partnership.
Upul Tharanga, who came back to bat at number eight, raised doubts that Shanaka’s bowling would be overworked due to Sri Lanka’s dense batting lineup. However, Shanaka quickly got a ball to swing in noticeably to uproot Paul Stirling’s off stump under humid Malahide skies. Shortly after, he also enticed Ed Joyce to make an abnormal swipe to Dinesh Chandimal behind the stumps.
Shanaka would come back to make sure Sri Lanka would not lose the two most valuable wickets in Ireland’s history—these dismissals that gave Sri Lanka the upper hand in the match. As a result, Ireland will have to wait to break their six-year streak without winning an ODI at home against a Full Member—a figure unworthy of a cricket-playing country with such high goals.
As Kevin O’Brien formed deserving partnerships with Stuart Poynter and William Porterfield, as well as an exceptionally beneficial one with Sri Lanka’s fielders, Sri Lanka’s grasp on the game was endangered for stretches of Ireland’s innings. There are two types of roulette players: those who double down, believing that one good break will lead to another and they may bankrupt the casino by the end of the evening, and those who cash in when they hit it lucky.
O’Brien seems like the kind of guy who would either come back from Monte Carlo with a brand-new boat or having failed miserably at attempting to sell his property. When he got to five, O’Brien moved to Seekkuge Prasanna’s legspin down the pitch and tried to chip the ball to get a pair. He delivered the ball too early, misplayed his stroke, and eventually hit it straight to Kusal Perera.
Similar to O’Brien, Perera misread the ball and made a straightforward catch, but he ended up taking it with his foot over the rope. While others would have seen this as a sign to control themselves, O’Brien saw it as justification to push even harder. O’Brien dragged Nuwan Pradeep to fine leg after he had faced three more balls. The ball then passed through Dhananjaya de Silva’s hands for another six.
After heaving Pradeep to long off five more times, Angelo Matthews ran over his shoulder and saw the ball hit the ground again. A rain-mandated break came next, but it did stem O’Brien’s dalliance with danger, particularly with the asking rate at nine: he hammered a ball straight to short fine leg, only to be given another respite. Thus, 20 runs were scored off of the four deliveries that had the potential to finish O’Brien’s innings.
Sri Lanka instead depended on the umpire to declare O’Brien leg before wicket while playing over Pradeep, knowing that fielders would never be able to dismiss him. In the end, Sri Lanka’s image for being unforgiving with its associates was preserved. Regarding Chandimal, he hasn’t scored an ODI century in five years, and the cheer he received upon concluding his run indicated that his skill had been underappreciated throughout that time.
This was a stylish innings highlighted by Chandimal’s flawless drives and flicks to the legside, but it was also distinguished by cunning and perfect placing. Chandimal did not use power hitting, and he did not need to: he scored 50 singles, ten twos, and six fours in his 100 not out from 107 balls. It was easy to think that the revolution in ODI batting had never taken place after seeing this performance.
But Chandimal was right when he predicted that any score beyond 250 would be difficult to chase. Chandimal made two significant stands with rookies after an 88-run partnership with Matthews. Initially, Kusal Mendis, who was inexperienced as a number three in the English Test series, struck a half-century with elegance and some exquisite straight drives. Then Shanaka came out, not feeling like playing so subtly.
He took 24 off of Max Sorensen’s deliveries in five deliveries. For Ireland, the day was happy news for one of their own debutantes. The cricketer tipped to succeed Barry McCarthy, John Mooney, presented McCarthy with his Ireland cap. Clearly, there are similarities. McCarthy’s younger sister is an international, while Mooney’s older brother is an international cricket player. Both were raised in Leinster.
Although McCarthy didn’t show it here by cutting his fifth ball behind, both players are energetic bowlers who can reach speeds of about 80 mph and are excellent fielders. McCarthy’s debut at Malahide was fitting. Three years ago, Ben Stokes was recommended to Durham and subsequently signed a professional deal following a trial period in the net. Prior to making his international debut last summer.
He became the first Irishman to play county cricket since the 19th century. His selection for Ireland was seen long overdue by many. McCarthy proved them right with just two balls, causing Danushka Gunathilaka to edge to slip. As the tannoy system said, “It’s a beautiful day,” McCarthy would probably have agreed, but not the rest of the audience, who were forced to use their umbrellas—something that Irish cricket fans should be required to do.
Anyway—to shelter themselves from the sporadic downpours. An underwhelming crowd of barely four figures was caused by a combination of the weather and the football (Irishly, both of these ODIs coincide with European Championship matches for the two Ireland sides). The Malahide club house was packed to witness Northern Ireland’s victory. With O’Brien’s deft cutters and McCarthy and the other 80 mph seamers being set up by Sri Lanka.
Ireland was thankful for its returnee, Boyd Rankin, who was playing his first One-Day International (ODI) for the country in four years. His lone previous international experience came in a 2013 match at Malahide, where he took 4 for 46 for England against Ireland. Here, his increased speed helped restrict Sri Lanka to only 25 from the final four overs by yorking Shanaka. However, Shanka would come back to prolong Ireland’s tense wait for a historic victory at home, and with bowling reminiscent of the Emerald Isle.
Sri Lanka in Ireland ODI Series – 1st ODI
ODI no. 3748 | 2016 season
Played at The Village, Malahide, Dublin
16 June 2016 (50-over match)
Sri Lanka team
MDKJ Perera, MD Gunathilaka, BKG Mendis, LD Chandimal†, AD Mathews*, RMS Eranga, WU Tharanga, N Pradeep, DM de Silva, MD Shanaka, S Prasanna.
Ireland team
WTS Porterfield*, PR Stirling, EC Joyce, KJ O’Brien, SW Poynter, GC Wilson†, J Anderson, MC Sorensen, BJ McCarthy, WB Rankin, TJ Murtagh.
Umpires – M Hawthorne and PR Reiffel (Australia)
TV umpire – BNJ Oxenford (Australia)
Match referee – DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire – AJ Neill
ODI debuts – BJ McCarthy (Ireland); DM de Silva, BKG Mendis and MD Shanaka (Sri Lanka)
List A debut – BJ McCarthy (Ireland)
