Kusal Mendis leads Sri Lanka to comfortable victory over Ireland

Mendis hit an unbeaten 68 from 43 deliveries and wrapped up a nine-wicket win with his third six of the match, settling the encounter with five overs to spare.

Ireland had stunned West Indies to reach this stage of the competition and set their opponents a target of 129 as Harry Tector top-scored with a knock of 45.

Opener Paul Stirling contributed 34 to the cause, but there was a lack of support beyond that.

George Dockrell (14) and Lorcan Tucker (10) were the only other men to hit double figures as Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took two wickets apiece and Ireland reached 128 for eight.

Sri Lanka were in control and never looked like coming up short after Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva put on a stubborn opening stand.

The duo had combined for 63 runs by the time Dhananjaya (31) was caught behind off Gareth Delany in the ninth over.

It proved to be the only Sri Lankan wicket to fall, with Mendis bringing up his 50 from 37 deliveries, hitting the milestone with a four.

Charith Asalanka matched Dhananjaya’s haul of 31 before Mendis smashed Sri Lanka to victory.

Ireland next face England in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Balbirnie knows Ireland’s batting needs to improve

Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie admitted his side’s batting must improve after they fell to a nine-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka. Looking to build on their upset of West Indies, they instead set a simple target of 129 founded on Harry Tector’s 45 and Sir Lanka romped home with five overs to spare.

“Obviously we didn’t want to bat first. We were looking at 160 plus and we were well short of that,” Balbirnie said.

“We were never really in the game. We knew they had the threat of spin on a used wicket and it certainly looked that way given the way the result has panned out.

“As a batting group we back ourselves to bat well first or second. We’re going to have to look at ourselves and if we do bat first in the next game we need to put up a better fight.”

Ireland’s Super 12 campaign continues against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

“A lot of us wouldn’t have played in a stadium like the MCG, it’s one of the biggest in the world. We’re very excited about that, especially playing against England,” Balbirnie said.

“We haven’t played them at T20 cricket in 10 or 11 years so that will be exciting in itself. It’s a great city and one that we really enjoyed the prep period in.”

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka was delighted with a dominant performance ahead of Tuesday’s clash with champions Australia.

“I’m really happy with the way we played the game. That’s the cricket we wanted to play as a team. Everyone contributed,” Shanaka said.