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Joe Root shelved the more aggressive instincts of ‘Bazball’ but kept England’s winning habit alive, defeating Sri Lanka by five wickets in the first Test to make it four victories from four this summer.
Presented with a chase of 205 early in the fourth afternoon of this series opener, England were unable to produce the kind of fourth-innings fireworks that have become their calling card over the last couple years, but emerged triumphant thanks to Root’s hard-working half-century.
After losing three wickets in a nervy spell before tea they were forced to pump the brakes in front of a becalmed crowd at Emirates Old Trafford, eventually getting the job done deep in the evening session and 58 overs in.
Root steadied the ship in a watchful stand of 49 with Harry Brook and made sure to see things through to the end, reaching 62 not out to hand stand-in captain Ollie Pope victory in his first game at the helm.
Root finished things with a four, one of only two in his three-hour stay.
Jamie Smith, fresh from a maiden Test century in the first innings, took it upon himself to release the shackles as the finish line hovered into view as he hit a dashing 39 that erased the prospect of the match creeping into a fifth day.
England had earlier saw the target get away from them in the morning session, Kamindu Mendis scoring a fine 113 and Dinesh Chandimal posting 79 as they made life difficult for an attack robbed of Mark Wood’s extreme pace.
Wood pulled up injured late on Friday evening and was ruled out of the day’s play with a thigh injury that looks likely to wreck his hopes of featuring at Lord’s next week.
England, already without the inspirational qualities of regular skipper Ben Stokes, missed the rush of speed that Wood provides but finally got to grips with the situation once they ended the 117-run seventh-wicket stand.
They took the final four wickets in 26 balls, with two for Matthew Potts and one each for Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes.
Sri Lanka’s lead was well beyond what England might have expected when the tourists resumed just 82 ahead with four wickets in hand and a game that has occasionally drifted along gently suddenly seemed to hang in the balance as England’s top order gave way.
Root played the role of designated driver to ensure England did not slip up, carefully seeing his side home and keeping alive the prospect of following up the 3-0 series win over the West Indies with an identical scoreline against the Sri Lankans.
England had hoped to make light of Wood’s absence but failed to create a single concrete chance as Kamindu and Chandimal added 87 in the morning session. The latter, who retired hurt and needed X-rays after being struck on the hand at 90mph by Wood on day three, was surely happier than anyone to see the Durham quick sidelined.
Kamindu and Chandimal together put on 117, the best stand of the match, but when England’s response finally came it was decisive – all four wickets tumbling for the addition of just 19.
Gus Atkinson drew a rare error from Kamindu, edging a drive to slip, and the tail fell quickly into line. Potts took two to partially salvage a middling Test comeback and Woakes collected his sixth of the match.
England started their innings with some familiar shows of bravado, not least when Dan Lawrence skipped down the track to launch Prabath Jayasuriya for six in his first over.
But they were soon put on notice, Ben Duckett caught behind pushing at Asitha Fernando and Pope completing a forgettable outing with the bat when he toe-ended a reverse-sweep to slip.
By the time Lawrence was sprung lbw by Milan Rathnayake, Sri Lanka were well and truly in the game with England 70 for three.
Both Root and Brook had scares and had either man gone before tea, alarm bells would have been sounding. Root was saved from an lbw by a sliver of bat showing up on UltraEdge and Brook was a yard away from picking out square-leg on the sweep.
But between them they shared an unglamourous shift worth 49 in 119 balls. When Brook fed a return catch back to Jayasuriya there were still 86 to get and the potential for another twist in the tale.
Smith’s fearlessness was key in keeping Sri Lanka down, the 24-year-old making yet another striking impression as he hit four fours and six in a brash 39. He was brilliantly bowled by Asitha but by then the job was all but done, allowing Root to wrap things up.
With five to win he tried to race through the gears with a reverse ramp over the slips but got his timing all wrong, but he survived to see England home.
