England captain Joe Root set his sights on taking England to the top of the world rankings after his spin trio finished off Sri Lanka in the second Test on Sunday to seal the series with a match to spare.
England needed just 30 minutes on the fifth day to take the final three Sri Lanka wickets. Jack Leach got last man Malinda Pushpakumara caught and bowled to claim his first five-wicket haul in Tests. Moeen Ali took four wickets and Adil Rashid one as England’s three frontline spinners accounted for the whole innings, as well as 18 of Sri Lanka’s 20 wickets in the game overall.
Root’s 124 in England’s second innings also played a key role in the 57-run victory and earned him the man of the match award. Celebrating England’s first away series win since beating South Africa in 2015-16 and his first away triumph as captain, Root sees England - who are currently ranked third in the world - challenging India for the top Test team spot. “It was a brilliant Test match,” said Root, whose team had to twice fight back after their top order batsmen gave away cheap wickets.
“It ebbed and flowed throughout, like against India in the summer, and it’s pleasing to see another close game go our way. We said we’d come out here and play bold cricket, and be courageous. It’s easy to talk a good game but we’ve backed it up,” Root said.
Sri Lanka needed 301 in their second innings to register an upset win but managed just 243 at the Pallekele ground. They started the day needing 75 more runs and with three wickets in hand had an outside chance. After Niroshan Dickwella was caught by Ben Stokes off Moeen Ali for 35 - the first wicket of the morning - Sri Lanka’s hopes were all but extinguished.
Moeen then struck No. 10 batsman Suranga Lakmal, the Sri Lanka skipper, on the pad next ball for a strong lbw appeal which was turned down. He bowled Lakmal his very next delivery. Pushpakumara lasted only eight balls before chipping the ball back to Leach and the game was done and dusted.
Brief Scores: England 290 and 346 bt Sri Lanka 336 and 243 (Mathews 88, Karunaratne 57, Leach 5-83, Moeen 4-72) by 57 runs
