Watch: Dhananjaya de Silva took a stunning catch at slip to end Curtis Campher’s exceptional innings against Sri Lanka in the second Test at Galle on Tuesday (April 25, 2023).
Ireland had begun day two well-placed, with 319 on the board for the loss of four wickets. In the first over of the day, though, Lorcan Tucker was cleaned up by Vishwa Fernando. The onus, thus, fell on Campher, who had looked solid during his vigil on day one. He went about his business expertly, showing immense patience and blending caution and aggression beautifully. Campher reached his maiden Test hundred off 209 balls and looked set to power Ireland to a total in excess of 500.
De Silva, though, had other ideas. On the third ball of the 138th over, Prabath Jayasuriya tossed the ball up on a length on middle and off stump. Campher, because of the exhaustion, could not get a big enough stride to get close to the pitch of the ball. He had a waft at it away from his body and got a thick outside edge that floated through to first slip.
At first, it seemed that the ball would evade the fielder. de Silva, however, flung himself to his right and plucked out a one-handed stunner out of thin air. The way Campher had been batting, that was probably the only way Sri Lanka were going to get him out, and his dismissal allowed the hosts to keep Ireland to a score under 500.
Sri Lanka have since responded in strong fashion, with Dimuth Karunaratne and Nishan Madushka notching up hundreds. Ireland, meanwhile, would be hoping for someone from their team to come up with something special and break the game open for the visitors.
