Classy Joe Root leads from front to put England back in control of second Test

For a country crying out for strong and stable leadership right now, look no further than Joe Root, whose peerless century on day three of this compelling second Test has put England within touching distance of a rare away series victory.

England’s captain has long been criticised for failing to convert fifties, only managing to do so once in his last 12 innings before Friday.

Yet, when his team needed him the most here, he stepped up to produce arguably his most important contribution with the bat since scoring 110 against South Africa in Johannesburg in January 2016 — an innings that set up England’s last overseas Test series win.

The odds on that happening again here are good.

Firstly, England have not lost any of the previous 14 Tests when Root has posted a hundred.

Secondly, the tourists’ advantage — standing at 278 half an hour before the close when they were 324 for nine — looks a match-winning one on a surface that should prove too much for a Sri Lanka side who have to win here to square the series, following defeat in the series opener in Galle last week.

For Root, this was an important step. He produced the type of truly great innings that Australia’s Steve Smith and India’s Virat Kohli have built their reputations as captains on.

It was also his first overseas century since scoring 124 against India at Rajkot two years ago, and just his fourth away from home overall.

However, following a collapse of three for four in 11 balls sparked by Root’s dismissal, England know they still have to bowl well if they are to make next week’s final Test in Colombo a dead rubber.

This really has been a Test match of undulating fortunes, with more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel, after Sri Lanka had wrested back the ascendancy on a second day that ended with England scoreless and unscathed, but still staring at a first-innings deficit of 46.

Jack Leach had been selected as a night-watchman for the single over of his side’s second innings that was possible yesterday.

The Somerset spinner was protecting Keaton Jennings. Both were dismissed inside a first hour that saw England’s runs column back in credit. Leach, lbw sweeping Dilruwan Perera, fell in the second over of the day. Jennings was surprisingly dismissed by spin as well this time, the seam-phobic opener out for 26 reverse-sweeping Akila Dananjaya to leg slip.

By lunch, England’s positive approach, that garnered 131 runs in a session, had manufactured a lead of 85 for the loss of four wickets, all emanating from sweep shots.

Burns was the pick of the batsmen, posting his maiden Test half-century in just his second match at this level. Yet, the Surrey opener fell for 59, —burning a review in the process — attempting to overturn a stone-dead lbw decision rightly given to left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara. Ben Stokes was out exactly the same way, as England slipped to 109 for four, Perera the bowler this time, whose leg-before dismissal was erroneously contested by the all-rounder as he wasted his team’s second review.

By lunch, Sri Lanka had also lost both their reviews, attempting to finagle the wickets of Burns on 39 and Root on 17. Both were for lbw, both were also desperate.

If the tourists had been going at a rate of knots in the morning session, they were akin to someone trying to break the land-speed record in the afternoon, smashing 87 in the first hour after lunch to extend their lead to 172.

By then, Root had reached 50 in 66 balls, but had also seen a 74-run stand with Jos Buttler terminated by Dananjaya, when his partner played on trying to reverse sweep the off-spinner.

Moeen Ali also fell to Dananjaya sweeping in the first over after drinks and wrongly given out lbw by umpire Marais Erasmus to a ball that pitched outside the line. With no reviews left, though, Moeen had to suck it up.

At that stage, England were 219 for six — a lead of 173 — but an unbroken stand of 40 between Ben Foakes and Root took that advantage to 213 by tea.

Root had been on 98 at the interval, but he reached three figures in the first over of the session, guiding Suranga Lakmal down to third man to spark wild celebrations among the mainly English supporters in the ground.

Coming in 120 deliveries, this was Root’s second-fastest Test century, only surpassed by his 118-ball effort in the opening Test of the 2015 Ashes series in Cardiff.

It is a shame this latest masterclass concluded on 124 when, well you can probably guess how he went? Yes, out lbw sweeping, Dananjaya picking up his fourth wicket of the innings.

Sam Curran, who rescued his side’s first innings with an explosive 64 on day one, became Dananjaya’s fifth victim the very next ball, bowled for a duck to become the first batsman not to be dismissed sweeping.

Rashid became the second, trapped lbw by Dananjaya to a ball he got an inside edge on to complete the mini-collapse that gave Sri Lanka hope of coming back once again.