JACK TURNS THE CORNER
Leach is back on track for England with five wickets after 14 months of misery
We should have known it was not going to be easy. england were never going to stroll to victory at the spinning paradise of Galle.
Instead, the fourth day of the first Test was much more like it used to be when sri lanka were in their pomp — england having to fight hard for every wicket before being subjected to a fierce examination of their ability to play the turning ball.
At the end of day four, england needed only 36 more runs with seven wickets in hand to win a compelling Test.
But they knew they could not afford a repeat of the frenetic and potentially catastrophic start to their second innings.
straightforward? Not a chance. Not with the ball ragging square and not with left-arm spinner lasith embuldeniya offering a passable impression of Rangana herath at his peak.
When Joe Root was run out in calamitous fashion to leave england on 14 for three chasing a mere 74, there were genuine fears of one of the great england collapses to ruin all the positive work of the first three days.
Yet Jonny Bairstow, who could easily have been run out the very next ball after that mix-up with his captain, and debutant dan lawrence steadied the english ship as bad light frustratingly ended the day before the drama could be completed.
No matter. What a Test this has become and how sri lanka will rue their lamentable first innings collapse to 135 all out.
even another 50 runs would have made england’s task more formidable.
equally, when the Galle dust settles, england will know they should have gone on to 500 in reply once Root had made a double hundred, rather than give sri lanka just a sniff of making a fist of it by losing their last six first-innings wickets for 49.
For now, the inquest can wait because england have much to be pleased about from the first of their 17 Tests this year. And they should be better in the tougher tests ahead for having to battle to dismiss sri lanka for 359 second time around.
It could be argued england’s spinners, Jack leach and dom Bess, should have bowled the hosts out much more cheaply than that on a pitch now more like the usual Galle dust-bowl. But, encouragingly, they both got better as the day went on. Taking 14 sri lanka wickets in the match between them can only stand leach and Bess in good stead for the second Test that also takes place in Galle on Friday; then, more significantly, in the four Tests in India that rapidly follow. We should remember that Bess, at 23, is still a young spinner learning his trade and has prematurely become england’s leading slow bowler because of the dearth of alternatives. Also, leach has barely played any cricket for more than a year.
so, as the first Test in which they have played together, this has been promising. Not least for leach — who is one of the good guys and has had to overcome considerable adversity since being catapulted to fame on the back of his unbeaten single when partnering Ben stokes in one of the great Test finales at headingley against Australia in 2019.
First the left-armer, who suffers from Crohn’s disease, contracted sepsis in New Zealand after playing in the first Test at Mount Maunganui and had to be treated in hospital.
Then he became ill in south
Africa early last year in what could have been an early case of Covid-19 and has played only two first-class matches for somerset since.
so, the sight of leach finding the right line and length and getting appreciable turn when taking five for 122 in 41.5 overs yesterday — in his first Test for 14 months — was heartwarming and encouraging for england’s hopes of beating India on their own patch.
encouraging, too, was the wicketkeeping of Jos Buttler, who has been impressive with the gloves in difficult conditions and was sharp making his first stumping in Tests off his great friend leach.
It has to be said, however, that dilruwan Perera was perhaps harshly adjudged by TV umpire lyndon hannibal not to have any part of his foot behind the line.
Before then, lahiru Thirimanne, dropped by dom sibley on 51 on day three, moved to his second Test century, seven years after his first, to anchor the sri lanka second innings before falling to the new ball and sam Curran.
Then it was a case of winkling the sri lanka batsmen out, not least the experienced Angelo Mathews, who made 71 before becoming one of three catches for Root — standing in impressively at slip to spin in the absence of the rested stokes.
england tried to be positive chasing their small target but sibley left one that went straight on from embuldeniya, then Zak Crawley found the turning ball in Galle a different kettle of fish to facing Pakistan at the Ageas Bowl last summer.
sibley will need a score in the second Test with Rory Burns due to return in India.
But for now the inexperienced opening pair can be cut some slack.
That is just as long as Root is able to remember this Test for his double hundred, catching and leadership rather than getting in a pickle with Bairstow, colliding with bowler Perera mid-pitch and dropping his bat before being run out by a direct hit.
he really should do.