Joe Root’s impressive fifty anchors England to 5-wicket win against Sri Lanka

England batter Joe Root hit an unbeaten 62 on Day 4 of the first Test in the 3-match series against Sri Lanka to take the Three Lions over the finish line in Manchester on Saturday.

Set 205 to win, England was faltering at 70/3, but Root and Harry Brook steadied the innings before Jamie Smith, who hit a century in the first innings also came in handy with his knock of 39.

Root and his teammates picked their moments to attack as the run-rate fell to around 3.5 per over by the end of the second innings.

The hosts reached the target of 205 at the loss of 5 wickets to not only take the lead in the series, but also secured a fourth straight Test victory this summer, after beating the West Indies 3-0 in July.

“It was a tricky one today. A long, slow, hard grind. For us to do it differently and still get the win is a good sign for us,” Root said.

Earlier, Sri Lanka was dismissed for 326 soon after lunch, collapsing following the departure of number 7 batter Kamindu Mendis for 113. Dinesh Chandimal was the last batter out for 79, with the final 4 wickets tumbling in 26 balls.

“Our mistakes were made in the first innings and that cost us the match. Lots of good individual performances. There are positives here and there. But we were off-target too much and you have to be 100% here to win test matches,” Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya De Silva said.

“In English conditions and their very good bowling line-up, we have to tighten our game at the top of the order,” De Silva added.

The second Test of the series will be held at the famous Lord’s stadium and will commence from Thursday, August 29.

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