| First Test, Galle (day two) |
| Sri Lanka 135: Bess 5-30, Broad 3-20 |
| England 320-4: Root 168*, Lawrence 73; Embuldeniya 3-121 |
| England lead by 185 runs |
| Scorecard |
Captain Joe Root scored an unbeaten 168 as England built a substantial lead over Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Test in Galle.
Debutant Dan Lawrence made 73, adding 173 with Root to help the tourists close on 320-4, a lead of 185.
Although rain allowed only 53 overs in the day – the start was delayed by 70 minutes and no play was possible after tea – Root and Lawrence batted into England a position of total dominance.
Root played beautifully for his 18th Test century but his first since November 2019.
He will resume on Saturday alongside Jos Buttler, who is unbeaten on seven, and will be aiming to declare and bat only once on a pitch that is already breaking up and offering increasing turn and bounce.
Root backs up pre-series words
Root is often compared to India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson as England’s lynchpin, but he can fail to capitalise on starts in comparison.
Having reached 50 four times since his previous century, he said before this series series he needed to be “selfish” and turn starts into “big match-winning contributions”, but “something big is around the corner”.
He was proved right on Friday.
He overturned an lbw decision on 20 on day one, and survived a review, when he was outside the line, off the second ball of day two but otherwise it has been a chanceless innings.
Root’s natural strike-rate makes him a dangerous Test player, and he was happy to rotate the strike and allow Lawrence to find the boundary with more ease.
The sweep has always been one of Root’s strengths, and he played it superbly throughout, both to find the boundary and to rotate the strike as he surpassed Kevin Pietersen’s 151 in Colombo in 2012 as the highest score by an England player in Sri Lanka.
At the start of a busy year that includes nine Tests home and away against India, potentially two against world number one side New Zealand and a bid to regain the Ashes in Australia, this has so far been the perfect start for Root and England.
More to follow.
