SL vs IRE: Prabath Jayasuriya breaks 72-year-record, becomes quickest spinner to reach 50 Test wickets
Sri Lankan left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya has broken the 72-year-old record for the fastest to reach 50 wickets in Test matches as a spinner during Sri Lanka vs Ireland 2nd Test in Galle.
Jayasuriya got to the milestone after he picked up the Ireland star batter Paul Stirling on day-5 of the Test match.
The 31-year-old got to the landmark in just seven Tests and 13 innings. The record was previously held West Indian spinner Alf Valentine who took eight Test matches and 15 innings to achieve the feat. Along with Jayasuriya former South African pacer, Vernon Philander has reached the milestone in the same number of games.
Prabath Jayasuriya storms into the record books as the quickest 🏎️💨 Spinner and the quickest Sri Lankan to reach 50 Test wickets,🔥 joining the ranks of the second-fastest players in Test cricket hory! 🏏🎉
Jayasuriya hit the 50-wicket mark in just his seventh Test to snatch… pic.twitter.com/Jq6Ia2mZV0
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) April 28, 2023
Former Australia player Charlie Turner holds the all-time record for the fastest to reach the 50-wickets in his sixth Test and 10th innings.
Sri Lanka leads the two-match Test series 1-0. In the first Test, Jayasuriya finished with a match haul of 10 wickets as Sri Lanka crushed Ireland an innings and 280 runs inside three days.
This was Sri Lanka’s biggest victory margin in test cricket, while Ireland slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat since becoming a test nation in 2018.
Captain Dimuth Karunaratne (179) and number three batsman Kusal Mendis (140) laid the foundation for a big total before Dinesh Chandimal (102) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (104) smashed unbeaten hundreds to consolidate their position.
Ireland was skittled out for 143 in their first innings with left-arm spinner Jayasuriya (7-52) being the wrecker-in-chief.
Made to follow on, Ireland managed 168 in their second innings with Ramesh Mendis (4-76) and Jayasuriya (3-56) claiming the bulk of the wickets.
