The first test match between England and Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Thursday was a closely fought affair that saw Jamie Smith scoring an unbeaten 72 to help England to a slender 23-run first innings lead, despite the day being curtailed by bad light and rain.
Ben Stokes’ absence through injury meant Smith batted at No 6, where he recorded his third fifty in four Tests.
He demonstrated his ability to support established batsmen and keep the scoreboard ticking when playing with lower order.
Prabath Jayasuriya accounted for both men, ending partnerships of 62 with Harry Brook (56) and 52 with Chris Woakes (25), whose figures read 2-58 from 21 overs of left-arm spin.
England found themselves in trouble at 67-3 in the 15th over having had the entire morning session washed out; Asitha Fernando taking three for 68 off his fourteen overs.
A similar collapse happened to Sri Lanka yesterday as they lost their first three wickets without scoring before getting all out for just 236 runs. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva was their top scorer with 74 and Milan Rathnayake notched up seventy-two as a no.9 batsman making his debut on international cricket.
In Zak Crawley’s absence, Dan Lawrence who got an LBW claim against him overturned by Asitha Fernando reviewed it successfully only to be trapped leg before wicket by that very same bowler two balls later after lunch.
However, two balls later, the paceman trapped Ben Duckett lbw for 18, with Sri Lanka overturning the original not out decision.
Asitha Fernando made no mistake as he sent Ollie Pope back to pavilion after picking up six runs when ball nipped back between bat and pad.
Until then Lawrence appeared set but could only get 30 while edging behind Dinesh Chandimal of a ball bowled across him by left arm pacer Vishwa Fernando.
Pope’s departure from the field meant that Root could now get to play and in the previous eleven tests against this side, he had made over a thousand runs with an average close to 64 where he also scored four centuries during this period.
But Root, who had compiled a typically stylish 42, inside-edged an intended drive against Jayasuriya as England were beginning to look solid at 58 before Chandimal moved forward fast to clutch the ball inches from the ground
Smith hit six off Jayasuriya immediately after coming in while Brook brought up his fifty from 59 deliveries.
For the modern-day equivalent of Mike Gatting’s ‘Ball of the Century’ by Shane Warne on this very ground in 1993, Jayasuriya tried something stunning for dismissing Brook. The young star’s score was only increased by three runs after tea but his dismissal was one he will remember as long as he plays cricket; unable to keep out a delivery bowling wide on middle and leg stump, it turned sharply away bouncing towards the top part of off stump.
At 187-5 England lost two more wickets: first Brook was caught by behind and then Woakes was clean bowled by Jayasuriya.
