Mendis, Madushka double-tons give Sri Lanka a chance to push for victory Angelo Mathews also tonned up before Ramesh Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya put Ireland two wickets down

DAY four was the day in which Sri Lanka put themselves in a position to push hard for victory, in a match in which Ireland might have hoped they'd made themselves safe, with a first-innings score of 492. On day five, Ireland will start two wickets down, with 159 still to get to make Sri Lanka bat again.

As the hosts racked up a gargantuan 704 for 3 declared, giving themselves a lead of 212, major batting milestones were reached, obviously. Here are the most salient among them:

-(Scores: Ireland 492 and 54 for 2 (Moor 19, Balbirnie 18*, Ramesh 1-17) trail Sri Lanka 704 for 3 dec (Kusal 245, Madushka 205, Mathews 100*, Hume 1-87) by 158 runs

Nishan Madushka completed a maiden double-century in just his fourth Test innings. His high score in his previous three knocks was 39.

- Kusal Mendis hit his own maiden double-hundred, progressing to 245 off 291 balls. He'd been out twice in the 190s before.

- Through the course of this rapid innings, Mendis also struck 11 sixes - a record for Sri Lanka, beating the eight sixes Kumar Sangakkara had hit against Bangladesh in 2014.

- Angelo Mathews also com- pleted a 15th Test century, off 114 balls.

No batters were out before completing a hundred, though Dinesh Chandimal did retire hurt on 13 after seemingly dislocating his shoulder after diving into his crease.

This was a monumental score, but not quite a historic one - Sri Lanka have once scored more for just the loss of three wickets, against Zimbabwe. And West Indies had once put on 790 for 3 against Pakistan, way back in 1958.

Having delayed the declaration to allow Mathews to get his hundred, Sri Lanka bowled 22 overs at Ireland, and claimed two wickets within them. Ramesh Mendis spun his second delivery hard, pitched it well outside off, turned it more than James McCollum expected, took the glove, and had it deflect into off stump - almost a dream offbreak to start.

Mathews then took an outstanding catch at short cover to send Peter Moor back, diving forward and to his right to pluck a leading edge up, centimetres before it hit the turf. This was off the bowling of Prabath Jayasuriya, who was spinning plenty past the bat late in the day.

At the crease at stumps were captain Andy Balbirnie, who had hit a tone-setting 95 in the