Joe Root embraces his selfish side to bat England into total control of first Test

Root was ably supported by Lawrence on day two

Those traits were also evident in how he adjusted and adapted to the situation, worked with rather than against the pitch and went about his business with calm assurance. Of course, there were moments of impunity, such as the leading edge that pierced second slip’s hands when on 60 and the dine-and-dash waft not long after on 68.

That Lawrence is now another young thing to come into the side and excel, after Dom Bess, also 23, picked up five wickets on Thursday, is a nod to that Root selflessness. Not just that he is one of the best around to bat with, right down to the unfussy, wholesome technique that you’d take home to introduce to your parents but not necessarily date.

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But also an environment created where new those new through the dressing room door feel emboldened to take on responsibility. 2020, while a relative aberration for him (he still averaged 42) saw five different players score centuries, including firsts for Dom Sibley, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley, and every series won.

And so it was only right to seem him profit off that in a more meaningful way. The weight off his shoulders meant the feet were that little more dexterous, forward and back but never in-between, milking Sri Lanka to all corners of the ground. He slapped and swept with both freedom and security, and has singularly outscored the opposition’s first innings of 135. A feat more pronounced given Grant Flower’s words at stumps on day one.

Among the lashes dished out by the Sri Lanka batting coach to his hapless team came a warning: a pitch already turning and losing the odd chunk “will get worse”. If it did, it was pretty hard to tell. Partly because of how Root and Lawrence batted, but more so how they were allowed to be some questionable spin bowling.

Much like seamers on green decks and swing bowlers under thick cloud, the key fundamentals are the same. To pitch the ball in the same spot, vary pace if you can and let the pitch decide how much each delivery is going to do. Easier said than done, of course. But simplicity has been a staple of Sri Lanka slow bowling: all control, no gimmicks.

That was severely lacking here and why they returned just one wicket in each of the Friday’s two sessions. The first came early: Jonny Bairstow dismissed eight balls into the day for his overnight score of 47. Embuldeniya with his third wicket of the innings, drawing Bairstow forward and getting one to spin enough to catch an edge to gully.

The inconsistency meant pressure was hard to build. Lawrence, for example, was afforded a risk-free start, gifted the first of his seven boundaries – a full toss from Dilruwan Perera – which took England into the lead. Root and Lawrence were able to rotate the strike with ease (67 of their 173 runs together came in singles). So far, there have only been eight maidens across 94 overs this innings.

There is scope for the hosts to claw back some initiative. The new ball is just 14 overs old, and the extra bounce it provided caught the glove of Lawrence to give Kusal Mendis a catch at short leg.

But they will need more of the bad weather and less of good England to escape this Test with anything other than defeat. 

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