England have Sri Lanka in a spin
Brilliant stumping caps dream debut
It has been 745 long days since England last won an away test but it will need something akin to a Sri Lankan miracle — or a return of torrential rain — to stop them ending that barren run here in the most improbable of settings.
Galle is to Sri Lanka what the Gabba is to Australia, but England took huge steps yesterday towards recording their first ever victory at this special ground — and their first away from home in 14 matches — with a masterful display.
And at the centre of it was the equally unlikely figure of Ben Foakes, who is enjoying surely the best England test debut since Andrew Strauss announced himself with a century and 83 against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2004.
First Foakes added the 13 runs he needed overnight to reach his century and, after selflessly perishing in pursuit of quick runs, did what he does best for Surrey.
Alec Stewart may have been accused of bias when he said his county’s keeper was the best in the world, but Foakes went some way towards justifying that lofty claim with an outstanding exhibition behind the stumps.
this, when the sun shines and humidity levels rise as we saw yesterday, is one of the most testing environments in world cricket, but England were up to the task and brilliant in the field as they skittled Sri Lanka out for 203.
the tone for that was set by Foakes, who did not put a foot wrong in 68 demanding overs, 48 bowled by three spinners combining to take eight of the 10 wickets.
It really was easy for Foakes to take a regulation catch off just the second ball of the innings when Dimuth Karunaratne got Sri Lanka off to the worst possible start in reply to England’s 342 by edging Jimmy Anderson.
But it was in making his first stumping at this level off a big Adil Rashid leg-break to dismiss Dinesh Chandimal and when taking a much sharper catch off Moeen Ali with ease to send back Akila Dananjaya that Foakes showed his talent and temperament at the highest level.
And to think he is only here because Jonny Bairstow hurt his ankle playing football and only made the starting XI because of concerns over Joe Denly’s form.
But there is no way England can leave Foakes out now. Not even if Bairstow, who looked fit during a keeping drill with Bruce French at lunch yesterday, will want the gloves back in Kandy next week. It is a situation England will have to handle delicately. Not least because they need Bairstow to provide batting ballast at the top of the order.
that dilemma can wait. For now England must be given credit for recovering from the worst possible first session on tuesday to lead by 177 runs with all second innings wickets remaining at the end of the second day. And if Foakes was supreme then England were well marshalled by captain Joe Root who employed imaginative fielding plans and used his six bowlers intelligently to see them prove far too hot for Sri Lanka to handle.
No one bowled better than Moeen, finally producing overseas what he regularly does at home to take four wickets and again prove himself the No 1 spinner however much he hates that tag.
It was after a miserable Ashes last winter that Moeen was dropped in New Zealand and left out until he returned to productive effect with nine wickets in the fourth test against India last summer.
He struck in his first over to bowl Dhananjaya de Silva before producing penetration and accuracy. It was Moeen’s best away display since he took five wickets against Bangladesh in Dhaka two years ago.
Chandimal and Angelo Mathews dug in after their side had collapsed to 40 for four but once Moeen dismissed Mathews with the help of stand-in short leg Keaton Jennings, it was all downhill for the hosts.
Jennings was deputising for Rory Burns, who was struck a blow just below the neck taking evasive action but he had bravely recovered in time to reach an unbeaten 11 by the close.
there was an impressive display, too, from Jack Leach, who did not concede a boundary until his 83rd ball, and Rashid showed why Ed Smith was so keen to return him to red-ball cricket.
this Galle pitch is now showing signs of the sharp turn for which it is famous. England will certainly hope so now they are in such a commanding position to record what would be a famous victory and their first away from home since they just about beat Bangladesh by 22 runs in Chittagong two years ago.
And that, after a woefully short preparation period and extreme travel sickness, would be some achievement.