ROOT IN CLASS OF HIS OWN
But hero skipper is devastated after late run out leaves Test on knife-edge
He was so, so close to repelling everything Sri Lanka and the harshest of conditions could throw at him with another monumental performance throughout the third day of the second Test.
But then fate provided the cruellest of twists for Joe Root.
Only four balls remained before the close when the england captain, exhausted and cramping up after continuing his single-handed assault on Sri Lanka, came forward to Dilruwan Perera and steered the off-spinner stiffly towards short leg.
Trouble was, his momentum had taken him outside the crease and his weary body could not react quickly enough to stop Oshada Fernando throwing down the stumps and leaving Root out of his ground — 14 short of his second double hundred in successive Tests.
How heartbreaking for an england captain who had touched greatness for the second time in little more than a week with this innings over eight and a quarter hours in Galle.
And how significant it could prove to the outcome of the Test and this series, with all results still possible at the end of the third day.
Honestly, it was the only way Sri Lanka looked likely to get Root out. It does not get much better than the two epic innings the england captain has played here that have once again propelled him into the ranks of the world’s greatest batsmen.
Root went past three of england’s all-time best — Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Kevin Pietersen and David Gower — during the course of another show of sub-continental mastery, after his match-winning 228 in the first Test.
Only Sir Alastair Cook, Graham Gooch and Alec Stewart stand above him now in the england hall of run-scoring fame and Root, with his average touching 50 again, will become the most prolific of the lot if he carries on like this.
Root can rarely have batted better. His sweeping against the outstanding Lasith embuldeniya, who took seven of the nine wickets to fall in only his ninth Test, and the other Sri Lankan spinners was a sublime masterclass in how to bat in Asia on a slow pitch against the turning ball.
There was even an impression of Pietersen at his very best from a batsman not known for unorthodoxy when Root hit left-arm spinner embuldeniya for two breathtaking switch-hit boundaries. It was like watching the finest of left-handers, let alone a right-handed batsman, just turned 30, at the peak of his powers.
How england have relied on Root. And how rejuvenated the captain has appeared by the rare extended rest period he has enjoyed since the summer — and the thinking he devoted to again reaching the heights he had stumbled from under the demands of leadership.
Root has scored more than half england’s runs in these two Tests and, according to the analysts CricViz, had been on this iconic Galle field for 93 per cent of the series by the close of the third day.
No wonder he needed to eat a banana and consume an energy gel every 45 minutes from lunch to the close, seven of each, to try to repel the cramping that had extended to his back before his Herculean effort was cruelly ended. Only when Root offered a half-chance to the left of slip Lahiru Thirimanne on 172 off embuldeniya did he appear mortal.
He looked certain to become only the second englishman to make successive Test double hundreds, after Wally Hammond, until the late twist.
england were 333 for six with 20 minutes left yesterday, the umpires having put their light meters away, and well placed to surpass Sri Lanka’s 381 and gain a crucial firstinnings lead.
It was then the Test swung back in Sri Lanka’s favour.
One of the reasons england have put faith in the developing spin of Dom Bess is that he is a threedimensional cricketer. Here, he put on 75 with Root before he survived a low reviewed gully chance only to then provide Thirimanne with one of his five slip catches.
Then Mark Wood threw away his wicket with a wild attempted slogsweep before Root became the third wicket to fall in that dramatic finale to leave england still 42 behind with one wicket left and much to do going into day four.
The best support Root received, though, came in a partnership of 97 with Jos Buttler that seemed as if it might take england into a commanding position before the keeper-batsman was caught off his boot via an inside edge reverse sweeping debutant Ramesh Mendis.
Buttler had earlier survived a similarly freakish shout on 26 after a review and there were plenty who felt there was sufficient doubt from replays for TV umpire Lindon Hannibal to rule not out again.
Kumar Dharmasena’s soft signal was negative but Hannibal insisted there was sufficient evidence from one camera angle to over-rule him.
Dharmasena also had to step in during the third session to stop Niroshan Dickwella’s non- stop chirping from behind the stumps but, in truth, there was little that was offensive in the chatter from the Sri Lanka keeper.
Stump microphones picked up Dickwella asking Jonny Bairstow why he had been ‘dropped’ from england’s squad for India while still taking his IPL cash. Then he complemented Dan Lawrence and asked the newcomer to teach him a few shots before finally asking Root to give him his bat.
Not surprisingly the england captain wanted to keep his special piece of willow for himself and how unlucky he was not to still be using it at start of play on the fourth morning.