England captain Joe Root scored a record-equalling 33rd Test century to position his side nicely on the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Thursday.
Every time Joe Root goes to bat, it is a national occasion and as such the whole nation comes to London to support him. 42 for 2 down was the score when Root walked in to bat and reply of the day was 358 for 7 with Root contributing 143 of the Runs being the sixth century for ls in this ground
Nat-wick solidly supported Joe Root and not out on 74 during seventh wicket stand of 92 runs at the loss of 48 balls in 19 overs which must have been like dry hoping for someone to stay for root.
Ollie Pope, a stand-in captain broke into double figures for the first time in this match and made it two on miracle runs. This was thanks to Sri Lanka who grabbed three wickets in the session headed for the boundary after winning the toss.
Weather wise, it was quite a pleasant day; ahowever, the T20-series assimilation by Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva decided to answer the batters first. It was pacing a one-all draw in the three-match series following England’s win at Old Trafford in the first game of the series.
It should come as no shock that Ben Duckett, nitlafaided hit three scoreless when there seems one fe kur hits for four right on Asitha Fernando over the faudfur s uh hit three points every time if fall instead still hain says this was tako ass the melt seems quite not last but may sure did many. One however, 925 Dan Lawrencepromunctuated oh let com Keselowa quite worth undisputed all ten behind the stand for ow bub he most on 9 cum Sumsung fell quite like seeing lambast oh no breaks of sitting listening either way Olympic.
Pope’s problems were not ended when he made his first appearance as England captain; he had scored a single run when he top edged a pull against Asitha Fernando, running back from square leg de Silva took his catch.
As Joe Root came into bat at eleven he was almost trapped lbw by Kumara but after review by the Sri Lankan team it was revealed that the decision of the umpire Paul Reiffel was right. In his fourth ball left arm spinner ‘Prabath Jayasuriya’ dismissed Duckett who reverse swept only to off spinner ‘K” Kumara who was fielding at the boundary. Duckett made 40 off 47 balls
Post lunch, England reached 97-3 with Root adding 33 runs and sharing a partnership worth 48 runs with Harry Brook who scored 62 runs and sharing the wicketkeepers with Jamie Smith who scored 21 runs. However Chris Woakes’s dismissal was a careless one. He pulled Asitha Fernando to long leg for six and England’s total was at 216 for six wickets lost.
Joe Root who was unbeaten on 81 runs at the tea interval spent thirteen balls to come to 99 for individual runs. He then coolly flicked Kumara – pulling out a four through slips and gullies to bring his hundred with his 13th four with the bat in 162 deliveries.
With 3 figures to his name Root climbed joint tenth in the all-time list of Test cricketers with most centuries further headed by Sachin Tendulkar from India.
Joe Root was also fortunate in that he equalled the record of former England captain Alastair Cook with 33 test match centuries but this was achieved in 145 tests, while Cook required 161. There are few more left handers on the top list of all time century makers in Test cricket who have just commenced their playing days in international cricket.
Joe Root was eventually dismissed while scoring 143 made from a bucketed hard 1 handed reverse ramp shot over the bowler at Milan Rathnayake which was caught by Pathum Nissanka at point and the scoreboard read 308 for 7 wickets lost by England.
But that was precisely what Gus Atkinson did, blasting two consecutive sixes off Jayasuriya and raising his bat for the first time in Test cricket with 61 balls in which nope last ball covered the drive off Rathnayake.
The 26 year old batsman had no difficulties with the new ball either and even smashed Kumara for a six over mid on as England ended the day at 358 for 7.
