In Stirling the Irish hope 

Rex Clementine in Galle  

Republic of Ireland has moved on from Sterling to EURO but Northern Ireland still uses the Sterling Pound. It is to a Stirling that the Irish will be looking up to in the second Test against Sri Lanka that gets underway in Galle today.

Ireland’s vice-captain Paul Stirling didn’t feature in the first Test as he had taken a break after the tour of Bangladesh. But he joined the squad in Galle last week and will be their key performer.

Stirling made his international debut in 2008 and he is their leading run scorer in ODI cricket having notched up over 5000 runs in nearly 150 games.  After the innings and 280 runs hammering in the opening Test inside three days, the Irish will be desperately looking for their most experienced campaigner to bail them out.

“Paul Stirling will be a definite change in the line-up. We all know what a fantastic player he is and obviously he brings in a lot of experience. His skill level is right up there and we look forward to having him for this Test,” Ireland coach Gary Wilson said.

Tackling Sri Lankan spin will be high on agenda of the tourists as the duo of Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis shared 15 wickets between them in the first Test.

“The batting plan has to center around occupying the crease for a longer period of time and having a fair good idea as to which ball to attack and which one defend or leave. Our players are still learning and hopefully we will put up a better show from tomorrow onwards. The more four-day First Class cricket they play, they will learn. The Sri Lankan players may be playing 15 to 20 First Class games a year but that’s not the case with our players,” Wilson went onto say.

Sri Lanka are expected to stick to the same team. “It’s difficult to change a winning team as the guys played so well in the last game. I thought  it as disciplined team performance. Good to see batsmen get runs under their belt. Obviously the bowlers did their job as well, with the new ball as well as spinners. It’s difficult to change such a team,”  Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said.