Aug 21-25, Old Trafford, Manchester, 1st Test Match
Sri Lanka 236 (de Silva 74, Rathnayake 72, Woakes 3-32) & 326 (Mendis 113, Chandimal 79, Woakes 3-58, Potts 3-47) England 358 (Smith 111, Brook 56, Fernando 4-103) & 205-5 (Root 62*, Smith 39, Fernando 2-25, Jayasuriya 2-98)
England won by 5 wickets
Toss: Sri Lanka, who elected to bat Officials: Joel Wilson, Paul Reiffel, Chris Gaffaney, David Boon, Mike Burns
England negotiated a tense chase on the afternoon of Day Four at Old Trafford to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the first Test of their three-match series.
Joe Root and Chris Woakes steered England to victory just over 10 minutes before the scheduled close of play to complete a 205-run chase that remained far from certain for much of the final two sessions of the day.
Root finished unbeaten on 62, his 64th Test match fifty, with Woakes not out on 8 at the other end, the pair successfully steering England through one final wobble when Asitha Fernando bowled Jamie Smith for 39 with 22 still required.
As shadows lengthened on an Old Trafford bathed in evening sunshine, the win was eventually sealed by Root skipping down the wicket to deposit Prabath Jayasuriya over mid-on for the final four runs required.
Sri Lanka battled hard with the ball throughout the innings, rotating their bowlers well and stifling England’s inclination for quick run-scoring with well-set fields that helped ratchet up pressure on a new look batting line-up shorn of both Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes.
The visitors put England on the back foot early on, Asitha Fernando removing Ben Duckett caught behind for 11 in the sixth over, before Prabath Jayasuriya and then Milan Rathnayake added the wickets of Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence for 6 and 34 respectively – leaving the hosts 70 for 3 in the 16th over.
Root and Harry Brook were forced to batten down the hatches in order to get England’s chase back on track, and the Yorkshire pair slowly dragged their side towards the required total, putting on 49 for the fourth wicket.
Sri Lanka refused to lay down however and when Jayasuriya had Brook caught and bowled for 32, England were reduced to 119 for 4, still 86 short of victory and with their elongated tail almost peeking into view. Fortunately for England, the arrival of eventual player of the match Smith to the crease proved decisive, his 64-run partnership with Root taking the hosts to within touching distance of the win.
Ultimately the seeds for England’s victory were sown on the morning of Day Three, as they pounced on a poor session of cricket from Sri Lanka to seize a 122-run first innings lead. Jamie Smith and Atkinson began the day with England just 23 runs ahead, but they took advantage of some fairly aimless cricket from the visitors to share 66 for the seventh wicket and put Sri Lanka well behind the game.
Smith, who has enjoyed a superb start to his embryonic Test career, with two half centuries in the summer’s earlier series against the West Indies – including an agonising 95 – notched an excellent maiden Test hundred as England’s final four wickets added 120 runs to their total. To cap a truly miserable morning Sri Lanka then found themselves almost immediately two wickets down in the three overs their batters faced before lunch.
For the second time in two innings the visitors required a fightback from a horrendous start. In the first Dhananjaya de Silva and debutant Milan Rathnayake rescued Sri Lanka from 6 for 3 to a more competitive 236 all out, in the second it was the turn of Angelo Mathews and Kamindu Mendis who put on 78 together to help their side to 204 for 6 at the close.
It meant Sri Lanka arrived at Old Trafford on Day Four with a lead of 82, but with just four second innings wickets remaining, their hopes resting almost entirely in the hands of Dinesh Chandimal and Kamindu Mendis.
The tourists’ last two recognised batters did well to thwart England’s push for victory for the entire morning session, the key breakthrough eluding Ollie Pope’s men as he cycled through his bowling options with increasing desperation.
Milestones were brought up for the Sri Lankan pair either side of a half-hour rain delay, Chandimal shaking off any concerns about the thumb injury that saw him retire hurt earlier in the innings to bring up a 27th Test fifty in the 73rd over. Eight overs later, Mendis completed a superb hundred, his third in his four-Test career, slashing Chris Woakes for four behind point from the third delivery with the new ball.
By the time England had taken that new ball, Sri Lanka had almost doubled their lead over the hosts, and when lunch was taken two overs later they were 169 runs ahead – just starting to put a little pressure back on the hosts.
However, armed with a little time to gather their thoughts over the lunch break and the shiny new Dukes ball, England quickly quelled any serious hopes of a dramatic Sri Lankan upset. First Gus Atkinson had Mendis caught by Joe Root at slip for 113, before Matthew Potts removed Prabath Jayasuriya and Chandimal in consecutive overs to bowl Sri Lanka out for 326 and leave England chasing 205.
Ultimately England were made to work much harder for victory than many had predicted, Pope enduring a testing time in his maiden bow as stand-in skipper. The experiment with makeshift opener Lawrence was neither a disaster nor a roaring success, he made 30s both times around, while Potts’ return to the side improved after a disappointing bowling performance first time around.
The series moves to Lord’s for next week’s Test, with the biggest concern for England being the fitness of Mark Wood who picked up a thigh injury on the evening of Day Three and seems highly doubtful for the remainder of the series.
