For much of the opening day of this Second Test, England tried their best to squander the advantages of a surprise gift by coughing up several of their own.
But having been inserted by Sri Lanka under a cloudless sky at Lord’s, they finished it just about on top and in control, led there by Joe Root and a 33rd Test hundred that ties the England record of Sir Alastair Cook.
With England weakened by injuries to Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes, this is fast becoming a throwback series for Root, who after years of holding together fragile, ever-changing lineups had been growing dangerously used to life as merely the most reliable cog in a settled, high-functioning machine.
Last weekend in Manchester, his unclaimed wicket and clinical half-century was all that kept England’s chase from becoming an unduly nervy affair, propelling them instead into a 1-0 series lead. Here, as no other specialist batter reached fifty in ideal conditions, he made 143 from 206 balls.
Assistance did come, though, from Gus Atkinson in a terrific cameo of 76 not-out late in the day, one that elevated England from a wasteful 216 for six on his arrival at the crease to 358 for seven by the close.
That Root spent a dozen balls stranded on 99 said plenty for Sri Lanka’s enthusiasm for what might have been a thankless task handed to them by their captain, at least until the evening session, when Root and Atkinson cashed in. That the former's eventual downfall - caught ramping in the cordon - was needless, was in keeping with England’s day.
As cricket readies a global Test fund to keep the format alive beyond the ‘Big Three’, the home top order stretched their generosity too far, tame dismissals for Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett and interim captain Ollie Pope at one stage threatening to make a masterstroke of Dhananjaya de Silva’s strange decision to bowl first on a batting day.
Pope had spoken 24 hours earlier of needing to find a way to separate the twin powers of being England’s No3 and leading the side. Here, though, that dual burden offered no real excuse, as unlike in both innings in Manchester, he walked to the crease unwearied by a stint captaining in the field.
Yet still, he did so with muddled mind. The 26-year-old was cut in half by the lively Lahiru Kumara, one of two additions to the Sri Lankan team, then survived enthusiastic appeals when flashing and missing outside off, his bat glancing the ground. In the following over came his swift undoing, cramped and off balance trying to pull Asitha Fernando’s short-ball.
If, midway through his captaincy experiment, Pope has done little to enhance his chances of succeeding Stokes permanently somewhere down the line, then Lawrence’s hopes of forcing a selectorial migraine at the top of the order in the more immediate future are also no closer to reality.
To a pair of squandered starts in Manchester, the makeshift opener had added only nine from 21 balls here when, with Duckett motoring along at the other end, impatience had him walking at Kumara and edging behind.
It would always have taken something extraordinary across these three Tests for Lawrence to keep Crawley, once fit, out of the side; with one-and-a-half of them to go, the more pressing question is of whether he remains the best choice as the squad’s spare batter, with Jordan Cox lurking and in spectacular form.
Duckett, meanwhile, looked in command for his 40 from 47 balls until being caught on the fence off Prabath Jayasuriya, top-edging a reverse-sweep that he had intended to keep low. The shot is one the opener plays well and often with healthy reward but in the context of the two soft earlier dismissals, it felt like more of the same.
Between lunch and tea, England were nowhere near as loose, but still Root watched Harry Brook and Jamie Smith dismissed in succession just as each looked set to provide company long-term.
Root, as ever, found a near-perfect blend of risk and reward, pouncing on Jayasuriya drag downs to move through the nineties, before getting stuck on the landmark’s cusp. Eventually, he went to the tried and trusted to get over the line, opening the face to steer through the slips for four.
A partnership of 92 with Atkinson was crucial, coming at a point when, even with Root going nicely, Sri Lanka’s gamble in bowling first looked like bearing fruit. When Root fell, Atkinson doubled-down, striking the third six of the innings as he and Matthew Potts made the most of weary bodies and a willing new ball.
Both will be back in the morning and with Atkinson, without a century in his senior career, in sight of a Test hundred at Lord’s.
