After two and a half years of approaching run chases like they were speed-eating contests, England opted to take it slow and steady. They beat Sri Lanka by five wickets late on the fourth evening in Manchester, a target of 205 reeled in without cause to reach for the antacids and only the odd hiccup along the way.
It was the only way, quite frankly, after Sri Lanka fought tooth and nail in the field. Buoyed by a sublime 113 from Kamindu Mendis earlier in the piece, the tourists set about squeezing their hosts and a cagey, tense affair ensued. England eventually got over the line at 7.17pm – a first victory for their stand-in captain, Ollie Pope – but only after Jamie Smith, centurion in the first innings, had stepped on the accelerator.
Smith perished for 39 with 22 runs still left to whittle off, castled by a wonderful reverse-swinging yorker from the ever-willing, ever-probing Asitha Fernando. But the reassuring presence of Joe Root was still there at the other end, the former captain’s unbeaten 62 from 128 balls taking England home with a heaved four over the top and Chris Woakes, another calm head, for company.
This gripping slow burn of a run chase – the target eventually reeled in across 57.2 overs – said a fair bit about the fight shown by Dhananjaya de Silva’s players on the day, with this second set of summer tourists already an upgrade on West Indies in terms of experience. It possibly said something about England’s new outlook too.
A summer of renewal for their seam attack post-Jimmy Anderson it may be, but the batters are also under orders from Ben Stokes, looking on here, to bring a bit more nuance to their cricket; to remain positive but give a bit more respect to the match situation. And when they slipped to 70 for three, this meant bloody-mindedness.
Dan Lawrence had just missed a straight one from Milan Rathnayake to be trapped lbw for 34 – another innings that suggested he is a spare peg in the hole left by Zak Crawley’s broken finger – but England had been ticking along at a familiar four and a half runs per over. Even having lost Ben Duckett and Pope early in the piece, the first iteration of this so-called Bazball team might have looked to stay in fifth gear.
But with the wily Prabath Jayasuriya wheeling away from the Brian Statham End – the surface not assisting much but the left-armer’s nous still evident – and De Silva rotating his seamers from the other, England went the other way. Harry Brook, an aggressor, took his lead from the already watchful Root, digging in for 32 from 68 balls – his slowest Test innings in double figures – for a precious fourth-wicket stand worth 64 runs.
Jayasuriya broke Brook’s resistance, teasing a sharp caught and bowled after beating him in the flight. There were 86 runs still to tick off at this stage. But while teammates may have been twitchy – both about securing the win or, just as likely, securing time on the golf course on Sunday – Smith rolled over the form from his masterful 111 in the first innings with another display of bravura.
The 24-year-old has already drawn comparisons with a young Root as regards temperament, even if, as shown by a monstrous six off Jayasuriya, he possesses a touch more power with it. The original was content to chisel it out, Root surviving a couple of close lbw shouts and waiting 95 balls for his first four. His second was the coup de grace, dancing down to Jayasuriya and sending it back over his head.
That England were pushed so hard owed so much to Mendis, a player who shot to online prominence during the 2016 Under-19s World Cup with his ambidextrous spin bowling. He is primarily a batter, however, and this third Test century in his first seven innings took his average to 92; an opportunity very much taken with both hands.
Had Gus Atkinson’s hands not let him down on the third evening then Mendis would have departed for 39. But it was an otherwise classy knock, all compact drives and hustle as he and Dinesh Chandimal, 79, pushed Sri Lanka to 326 all out – an upgrade on their first innings that augurs well for another contest at Lord’s next week.
Pope was also shorn of Mark Wood, out with the thigh injury that has put the rest of his series in doubt, while his spinner Shoaib Bashir was getting little help from the rock-hard surface. In the end it took the arrival of the (official) second new ball to separate the set pair, Atkinson finally switching to around the wicket – not his prefered angle of attack just yet – and finding the edge of Mendis’s bat.
Chandimal looked to up the ante given the start of the tail but after Jayasuriya and Vishwa Fernando made way in meek fashion he was the last to fall for 79. With a bit more support here, England’s target would have been even chewier.
