Sri Lanka rattle Ireland after Madushka, Mendis double tons

Nishan Madushka and Kusal Mendis scored double hundreds, and Angelo Mathews smashed a quick, unbeaten 100 off 114 balls, as Sri Lanka amassed 704/3 before declaring, in a fitting riposte to Ireland's 492. Ramesh Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya then gave the visitors even stronger control over proceedings as Ireland lost two wickets before stumps on Day 4.

Having already made a strong start with the bat, Sri Lanka aimed to bury Ireland under a mountain of runs despite their strong effort in the first innings as Madushka and Mendis added a second-wicket alliance worth 268 runs. This came after Madushka had added 228 for the first wicket with captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

It was a torrid day on the field for Ireland, with no respite in sight. Madushka and Mendis first took Sri Lanka close to Ireland's total within the first session, and then consolidated further as the game progressed. Madushka added to his Day 3 score of 149* to score his maiden Test double ton.

Thirty-eight overs into the day, Ireland finally had a breakthrough when Andy McBrine had the opener trapped leg before. The umpire did not side with the bowling side on appeal and they sent it upstairs for a review. Much to their delight, the TV umpire overturned the original decision to send Madushka packing on 205 off 339 balls - an innings laced with 22 fours and a six.

The wicket however, brought more doom for the hosts as Sri Lanka shifted batting gears with the arrival of former captain Matthews.

After the drinks break in the second session, Mendis brought up his double hundred - off 263 balls. Mathews, meanwhile, started cautiously before playing an excellent on-drive against Curtis Campher to get going and never looked back. Campher kept pitching the ball up in search of swing and errors from the batters, but Mathews punished him by going over mid-on again for another boundary. In the same region, he launched leg spinner Benjamin White for a six and soon brought up a 77-ball half-century.

The pair caused devastation in the 25.5 overs they batted together, adding 133 runs to take the team past the 600-run mark. In a period when Mendis was chancing his arms too, he fell while trying to add to his already sizeable tally of 11 sixes -- just one shy of the world record for a Test innings, set by Wasim Akram, who hit 12 sixes in his 257* against Zimbabwe in 1996.

Mendis nearly pulled it off but Matthew Humphrey did well to catch the ball at the boundary line at long on, toss it up in the air before going beyond the boundary and coming back to complete the take. That effort meant Mendis had to depart for 245 off 291 balls, with 18 fours and 11 sixes to his name.

Out came Dinesh Chandimal to pile on the Irish misery, but he lasted only 14 balls before having to retire hurt. The wicketkeeper-batter appeared to have hurt his shoulder while diving into the crease to avoid a run out, and couldn't continue. That didn't halt the Matthews juggernaut as he combined with Dhananjaya de Silva to bat for another six and a half overs to get to his 100 off just 114 balls. Right as he got the milestone, Karunaratne declared the innings on the massive total that gave them a first-innings lead of 212 runs.

Ireland, who have been dogged in this fixture with the bat, were dented early as Ramesh Mendis breached the defence of opener James McCollum's to clean him up as early as the fifth over. His opening partner Peter Moor was dismissed by Jayasuriya, courtesy a sharp catch at short cover. Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector dragged Ireland to 54/2 at stumps, trailing Sri Lanka by 158 runs.

Ireland will need a repeat of the first innings with experienced batters putting their hands up and stonewalling Sri Lanka to deny them a win on the final day.

Brief Scores: Ireland 492 & 54/2 (Ramesh Mendis 1-17, Prabath Jayasuriya 1-28) trail Sri Lanka 704/3 decl. (Kusal Mendis 245, Nishan Madushka 205, Dimuth Karunaratne 115; Graham Hume 1-87) by 158 runs