Root left me on cloud nine
England supporter has caught the imagination by staying in Sri Lanka since the tour there was called off last March.
He was stationed on the ramparts of the fort overlooking the ground and Root hailed Lewis as “a beacon for everyone at home”.
The England skipper dialled Lewis’ phone number and said: “Rob? Hello mate, how are you? It was nice to see you finally up on the fort.
“That’s why I wanted to come over. On behalf of all the lads, we really appreciate your support and it’s an incredible story and journey that you’ve been on.
“More than anything, I just wanted to say a massive thank you, we really appreciate you being here and making the effort to come down and support us.
“It’s nice for us to be able to celebrate together a win here in
Sri Lanka.”
The web designer from Sunbury-on-Thames had been able to watch the game from day three onwards, belting out Jerusalem each morning just as the Barmy Army would do normally.
He said: “I said something like, ‘I’ll be honest with you, Joe, it wasn’t too much of a chore staying here in Sri Lanka for 10 months. Congrats on your double ton, thanks for saluting me, it meant the world’.
“He saluted the balcony then turned to me. That was pretty nuts because a lot of the time you feel lonely and isolated up
there and not even sure if they can hear you sing. Just that one little acknowledgement made it all worthwhile.
“Joe Root clapped me at the end, which was great, then for him to give me a personal phone call was just amazing.
“Then, less than 15 minutes after that, Aggers called me on TMS – I think that’s cricket peaked.
“I was on cloud nine. I sat on the fort afterwards having a few beers on my own – I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want the Test to be over.
“It was amazing, I had to drag myself away.”
CAPTAIN CALLING: Root phones England’s big fan