Sri Lanka ‘A’ beat Ireland by five wickets with ten balls to spare in their T-20 friendly at SSC yesterday.

Ireland, who stunned cricket lovers during the last ICC World Cup in the Caribbean three years ago, by beating Pakistan and Bangladesh, have applied for full member status of the International Cricket Council.

Electing to bat first, Ireland posted an impressive 174 for six in their allotted 20 overs. Stand in captain Niall O’Brien top scored with 59 off just 38 balls with six boundaries and two sixes while Paul Stirling hit 43 in 34 balls with five boundaries and a six as the opening pair added 104 runs in 70 balls. Gary Wilson chipped in with an unbeaten 25 in 21 balls. Chaminda Vidanapathirana picked up two wickets.

The game was hanging in the balance half way through the run chase when the Irish reduced the hosts to 110 for five, but an unbroken 68 run stand for the sixth wicket between Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Jeevan Mendis sealed the game in Sri Lanka’s favour. Jayasinghe was on 41 off 27 balls with four boundaries and a six while Mendis made a run a ball 29 with three fours.

This was Ireland’s second loss to Sri Lanka ‘A’ during their tour. Last week, at NCC they were beaten by three wickets.

Brief Scores:

Ireland 174/6 (20)

(N. O’Brien 59, P. Stirling 43, C. Vidanapathirana 2-25)

Sri Lanka ‘A’ 178/5 (18.2)

(C. Jayasinghe 41*, J. Mendis 29*, A. Cusack 2-43)