ENG vs SL: Root anchors England to nervy five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in 1st Test

Set 205 to win, England was faltering at 70-3 but Root and Harry Brook (32) steadied the innings before the former captain guided the team home to its target.

England’s Joe Root walks back to the dressing room after winning the match against Sri Lanka. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Joe Root hit an unbeaten 62 to anchor England to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka late on Day 4 of the first test on Saturday.

Set 205 to win, England was faltering at 70-3 but Root and Harry Brook (32) steadied the innings before the former captain guided the team home to its target as shadows lengthened on a sun-baked evening at Old Trafford.

The English finished with five wickets in hand to secure a fourth-straight Test victory this summer, after beating the West Indies 3-0 in July.

The win in Manchester was also significant in that it might have signaled a reset of “Bazball” — the nickname of the expansive approach favored by the leadership team of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.

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.

Root, who only hit two fours — the second coming off what proved to be the last ball of the match — said “sometimes it’s good to win ugly.”

“It was a tricky one today,” Root said. “A long, slow, hard grind.” Root revealed he didn’t feel comfortable “muscling it” so compiled his knock in a different way. “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 No. 7 batter Kamindu Mendis for 113 — the third century of his four-match test career. Dinesh Chandimal was the last batter out for 79, with the final four wickets tumbling in 26 balls.

Sri Lanka added 122 runs on the fourth day after resuming its second innings on 204-6.

“Our mistakes were made in the first innings and that cost us the match,” Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva said. “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.

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

The second test starts at Lord’s on Thursday.