Young Lankan team win their first match after being crowned T20 Champion - In the first match of the two match series the Lankan batsmen had a tough time in testing condition but the bowlers made merry as they successfully defended a low score. Ireland after winning the toss made the Lankan bat first. The Irish bowlers struck early as the Sri Lankan opener lost his wicket in the very first over of the match. The Lankans found it difficult to score against a tight bowling of the Irish. Thirimanne after scoring 8 runs from 24 balls lost his wicket in the 9th over leaving his team at a score of 25/2. Tharanga and Chandimal the two experienced duo played with a cautious approach taking their team cross the 50 run mark. Tharanga soon felt at a score of 24 bringing in the skipper. Mathews and Chandimal stitched together a partnership which was broken by O’Brien as he took the wicket of Chandimal leaving the Lankans at a score of 90/4. Lankan with the help of the innings from captain and Priyanjan reached a respectable score but it was Kulasekara who in his valiant innings of 42 from 34 balls took his team to a score of 219 in 50 overs. T Murtagh was the pick of the bowler as he gave away only 21 runs in his 10 overs taking 2 wickets.
Chasing a score of 219 Ireland lost their first two wickets in their 5th over. Porterfield and O’Brien showed some class as they batted well against a good bowling side. They had a partnership of 58 runs before Mendis took the wicket of O’Brien. The fall of O’Brien saw the flood gates open as Ireland lost 3 more wickets in a span of 11 runs. Porterfield after a brave fight lost his wicket to Mendis after scoring 37 runs. The Irish team was bowled out in the 40th over of the innings at a score of 140. Mendis and Lakmal both bagged three wickets each as the Lankans won the match by 79 runs. Mendis won the man of the match award for his mystery spell of 3/27.