MANCHESTER: Joe Root’s gritty unbeaten 62 guided England to a five-wicket win in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Set 205 to win, England were faltering at 56-2 when star batsman Root came in shortly before tea on the fourth day.
But together with Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook (32) he shared a grinding partnership of 49 in 20 overs – a far cry from England’s ‘Bazball’ approach of recent years – although a still slow outfield made boundaries hard to come by.
The match, however, was back in the balance when Brook chipped a return catch to left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, with England 119-4 and still needing a further 86 runs to win.
But Jamie Smith, fresh from a maiden Test century in the first innings, gave Root fine support with a brisk 39 during a stand of 64 as England went 1-0 up in a three-match series after finishing on 205-5.
It was another sign of the 24-year-old wicketkeeper’s admirable big-match temperament, Smith’s performances with the bat in Manchester minimising the impact of regular captain Ben Stokes’s absence with a series-ending torn hamstring.
That Sri Lanka took this match so deep into the fourth day was a testament to their resilience after they had collapsed to 6-3 on the opening morning.
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They continued that fight in the field on Saturday before Smith broke the shackles with successive fours off Jayasuriya before later pulling him for six.
By the time he was bowled by Asitha Fernando, England were in sight of victory at 183-5.
Root ‘clinic’
Soon afterwards, Root went to fifty before ending the match with just his second four in 128 balls faced when he lofted Jayasuriya down the ground.
“We had to work hard for that over the four days but we bowled really well throughout,” stand-in England captain Ollie Pope told the BBC.
“Jamie Smith batted so well and then Joe (Root) put on a clinic for us at the end.”
Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva added: “We knew that England would come hard against us. We had our plans but in the first innings we couldn’t execute them.
“Our mistakes were made in the first innings and that cost us the match.”
Kamindu Mendis in command
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis scored his third hundred in just four Tests as he made 113 in a second-innings total of 326, having come in with his side in trouble at 95-4.
Together with Dinesh Chandimal (79), he shared a seventh-wicket stand of 117 in 30 overs.
England suffered a setback before play started Saturday when express quick Mark Wood was ruled out with a thigh injury suffered while bowling late on Friday.
Sri Lanka resumed on 204-6, just 82 runs ahead, after Smith’s 111 had been the cornerstone of England’s first-innings 358.
Mendis, dropped on 39, was 56 not out and Chandimal 20 not out.
Mendis was quickly into his stride on Saturday, having missed Sri Lanka’s lone warm-up match against the second-string England Lions at Worcester last week after visa problems delayed his entry into the UK,
The 25-year-old left-hander, drove fast bowler Gus Atkinson through the covers and pulled him behind square for fours off successive deliveries.
Chandimal, meanwhile, completed a 73-ball fifty after resuming his innings following a pain-killing injection, having retired hurt on 10 when struck on the thumb by Wood.
After England took the new ball, Mendis’s cut off seamer Chris Woakes – his 12th four in 167 balls also including a six – saw him to a well-deserved century.
He later struck Atkinson for three fours in the first over after lunch to take Sri Lanka past 300, saving the best for last with a flashing cover drive.
But the Surrey quick had his revenge when, bowling from around the wicket, a ball tha cut away sharply off the pitch took Mendis’s outside edge, with Root holding a low catch at slip.
Despite his dismissal, Mendis was still left with a hugely impressive Test batting average of 92.
His exit, however, sparked a collapse that saw Sri Lanka lose their last four wickets for 19 runs.
The second Test at Lord’s starts on Thursday.
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