Home team Sri Lanka were certain favorites going into the first Test match of the 2-match series against England. However, visitors made a stunning turnaround to win the Test match quite comfortably by a good margin of 7 wickets. If not for a collapse towards the end of Day 4, England’s winning margin would have been even better in this Test match!
Having opted to bat first, Sri Lanka made a false start with the start. None of their batters stood up to the challenge of scoring runs and eventually they were bowled out for just 135 runs with their stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal top scoring for them with 28 runs. Dominic Bess bagged five wickets while Stuart Broad bagged 3 wickets. Jack Leach picked up a sole wicket while Sri Lanka lost one of their batters (Lasith Embuldeniya) as run-out.
England, who were in full of confidence after bundling Sri Lanka for such a low total scored 127 runs losing just 2 wickets by stumps on Day 1. They went into stumps on Day 1 with 8 wickets in hand and trailing Sri Lanka by just 8 runs in their first innings. England captain Joe Root who failed to score a single Test century last year scored big in this innings. He got to his fourth double century (228 runs) as England were bowled out for 421 in their first innings. Dilruwan Perera was the pick of Sri Lankan bowlers in this innings with 4 wickets against his name.
Going into their second innings, Sri Lanka were under tremendous pressure with a deficit of 286 runs. However, their batters stepped up to clear away the deficit and set a target (even though it is small) for England. Opener Lahiru Thirimanne scored 111 runs, his second only century in this format while Kusal Perera (62) and Angelo Mathews (71) scored half-centuries each. England spinner Jack Leach bagged 5 wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 359 runs setting a target of just 74 runs for England to win the Test match.
England through fumbled at the start chased down the target with 7 wickets in hand. Dominic Sibley (2 runs), Zak Crawley (8) and Joe Root (1) all departed cheaply in England’s 2nd innings towards the end of Day 4 giving Sri Lanka a slight edge in the fourth innings of the Test. However, Jonny Bairstow (35*) and Daniel Lawrence (21*) remained unbeaten to take England to a comfortable 7-wicket victory in the Test match and take 1-0 lead in the series.
Joe Root has been adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his double century that helped England take a big lead over Sri Lanka in the first innings. The second and final Test of this 2-match series will also be played at the Galle International Stadium in Galle beginning from Friday (Jan 22).
Brief Scores: England – 421 all out (Joe Root – 228, Dilruwan Perera – 4/109) & 76/3 (Jonny Bairstow – 35*, Lasith Embuldeniya – 2/29) defeated Sri Lanka – 135 all out (Dinesh Chandimal – 28, Dominic Bess – 5/30) & 359 all out (Lahiru Thirimanne – 111, Jack Leach – 5/122) by a margin of 7 wickets
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