England Beat Sri Lanka in First Test

Sri Lanka 135 & 359 England 421 & 76/3 England win by 7 wickets

England won the first test in Sri Lanka by 7 wickets thanks in no small part to captain Joe Root’s 228 first innings score.

It was a magnificent knock by Root as he started 2021 off with a bang having failed to score a test century in the whole of 2020.

The victory for England wasn’t as convincing as the score may suggest and I feel Sri Lanka will be a tougher proposition in the second test.

Their poor batting in the first innings made it a comfortable victory for England but had they scored 100 more then it would have been a difficult chase for England batting last on a spinning pitch.

England may also get better and the spinners seemed to grow in to it the more the game went on. It was good to see both Bess and Leach get a five for.

Other positives for England were Bairstow and Lawrence on debut. Both saw England home to end on 35 not out and 21 not out respectively to go with their first innings scores of 47 and 73.

The bigger picture for the bating line-up is what happens when Stokes, Pope and Burns return? Bairstow and Lawrence were seen as the back-up but if both continue like this then other than Stokes, the others may be waiting a while for a return.

The openers struggled in this test so maybe Burns could come back in but Pope may have to wait a while for another opportunity.

The batting line-up will remain the same for the second test but England will look to rotate their seamers and I expect at least two changes with Anderson and Stone coming in for Broad and Wood.

Had Moeen Ali been fit for the second test then I think England would be tempted to play three spinners. Reports are that he won’t have recovered physically in time to play but he is now out of isolation and on the mend.

Back to Bairstow though and my question is could he make the number three spot his own in any country in any conditions? In the sub-continent he is perfect for it as he plays spin so well but when it’s swinging in England and quick in Australia is he better suited to further down the order?

Continued success at number three in Sri Lanka and India will mean the position will be his but whether that would be the right call would remain to be seen.

Again England seem to be in a position of having such an abundance of talent more suited to batting 4 to  7 in Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Pope, Lawrence and Buttler but the top three again seems fragile.

Crawley’s double ton last summer puts him in the prime position above Burns and Sibley but Crawley would prefer to bat three while Burns and Sibley like to open. Playing all three however means either Bairstow doesn’t play or one of the other middle order batsmen with Bairstow dropping down the order.

I’m sure it will prove to be a dilemma for England, particularly in the summer but maybe they will adopt a rotation policy given the amount of tests that they have. Also the likes of Bairstow, Stokes and Buttler play in every format so perhaps they will always look to rest one of those over the likes of Lawrence and Pope who at the moment are only in the test team.