India edges closer to win in 1st cricket test against Sri Lanka despite Sonal Dinusha’s 65

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sonal Dinusha continued his resilient innings and guided Sri Lanka to 175 for 6 at lunch on Day 5 of the first cricket test, holding on as India pushes for the four wickets it needs for victory.

Sri Lanka resumed Wednesday at 84-4, trailing by 287 runs, with Sonal Dinusha — who scored a century in the first innings — not out on 25 and captain Dhananjaya de Silva on 31.

Dinusha survived the morning session, moving to 65 not out from 112 balls and hitting six fours and a six.

India, though, managed to break his long partnership with de Silva, who scored 59, and then snared another wicket as it edged closer to a win.

Sri Lanka needed another 197 runs for an improbable win or to bat through another 65 overs to salvage a draw.

India posted 462 in its first innings and, after dismissing for Sri Lanka for 284 in reply, tallied 193 in its second innings to set the hosts a 372-run chase.

Dinusha and de Silva had batted together for 12.2 overs in the final session on Day 4, and they looked to extend their partnership by cutting down any risky shots. The partnership scored 54 runs in the first hour of play on Wednesday, with both batters going past 50.

Skipper de Silva got there first – 50 off 125 balls – and Dinusha scored his half-century off 77 balls. Their partnership neared the century mark until Ravindra Jadeja provided the breakthrough for India when he had de Silva caught at short fine leg attempting a sweep shot.

Four overs later, India had another wicket when Niroshan Dickwella (10) was caught behind off Prasidh Krishna.

Sri Lanka was just past 150 at that stage, but Keshara Nuwantha faced 27 deliveries to stay unbeaten and keep Dinusha company until the first interval.

See AP’s full cricket coverage here

India's captain Shubman Gill celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella during the day five of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka's Sonal Dinusha plays a shot during the day five of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

India's Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's captain Dhananjaya de Silva during the day five of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

India's Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's captain Dhananjaya de Silva during the day five of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Triple-murderer Erin Patterson appealed her convictions Wednesday for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.

Three judges of the Victoria state Court of Appeal are hearing her appeal over two days against her convictions on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder relating to a lunch of beef Wellington pastries she prepared at her rural home in Leongatha in July 2023.

Prosecutors are appealing the leniency of her sentence. The 51-year-old was sentenced in September last year to life in prison and must serve at least 33 years behind bars before she can apply for release on parole.

Prosecutors will argue at the hearing Thursday she should be sentenced for life without possibility of parole, Prosecutor Brendan Kissane said.

Defense lawyer Richard Edney’s first ground for appeal Wednesday was an error that resulted in jury members being sequestered in the same hotel as a police witness and members of the prosecution team.

“This was a very serious breach of sequestration,” Edney told the court.

Kissane said there was no evidence to support that ground.

“There was no actual contact between any juror and any other person,” Kissane said.

Another defense lawyer, Veronika Drago, said there was no evidence that Patterson had read online posts that reported death cap mushrooms had been seen near the towns of Loch and Outtrim.

The trial heard evidence from a telecommunications expert that Patterson’s phone connected to towers near Outtrim and Loch.

Drago said the evidence was that Patterson’s phone had possibly been in the area.

“That in and of itself, in our submission, illustrates just how dangerous and unfair that evidence was” on Patterson’s trial, Drago said.

Prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams said the evidence showed that Patterson had an opportunity to deliberately source death cap mushrooms shortly before the lunch.

Another ground for appeal was that Prosecutor Nanette Rogers’ cross-examination of Patterson over five days had been “unfair and oppressive.”

The defense team also argued that trial judge Christopher Bale had caused “unfair prejudice” by allowing evidence from Patterson’s Facebook “friends” into the trial.

Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited to the fatal lunch but did not attend.

His parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, died. Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, spent weeks in hospital, but survived.

Patterson argued during her trial that the poisoning was an accident.

Drago argued a miscarriage of justice occurred when the prosecution opened their case saying there was no evidence of a motive for the poisonings, then closed the case suggesting Patterson's animosity toward her husband's parents and the broader Patterson family was the motive.

Questioned by one of the three judges, Justice Lesley Taylor, Drago said she was not accusing prosecutors of deliberate professional misconduct.

“It is certainly not a direct allegation or suggestion of that, but what is clear in our submission from the reading of all of the material is that where things started and where it finished by the end of the prosecution case were different,” Drago said.

If Patterson's appeal succeeds, the judges could overturn her convictions and order a retrial.

Patterson did not attend court on Wednesday and watched the hearing by video in prison.

In pretrial testimony only made public after her trial, Simon Patterson said he suspected his wife had deliberately made him seriously ill with dishes. No poisons were ever found.

Erin Patterson was initially charged with three counts of attempting to murder him three times between November 2021 and September 2022. She had denied all charges.

Prosecutors dropped all charges relating to the husband before her trial began in April 2025.

This story has corrected the lawyer's name to Drago, not Vargo, throughout.

FILE - Erin Patterson is escorted away from the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 8, 2025. (Joel Carrett/AAP Image via AP, File)