A stirring victory will be even better if they learn from first day

Fresh faces helped and England can enjoy more success if the top order’s mindset is sorted out

Aterrific win for England has proved they have the potential to be a very strong team if they sort out their mindset at the top of the order. England have so much skill, lots of variation in their bowling and their lower-order engine room is formidable, on a par with the great South African powerhouse of Pollock-boucher-klusener.

But what lets them down is their mindset with the bat and I hope the first morning in Galle was a lesson. If they had been 103 for five in India, or Australia, they would have lost the match, no question.

Because they were playing a poor side, they were allowed to fight back. England are better than 103 for five against a team like Sri Lanka and the reason we criticise them when they produce poor cricket is because we know they can do so much better.

The first two days of a Test are about low risk. You can go harder on the next two but on the first two you play solid cricket to build a position from which you can win.

The players successful in this match – Ben Foakes, Keaton Jennings and Ben Stokes – were all willing to bat time. They gave themselves a chance to get in, become accustomed to conditions, before trying to play shots. A high-risk strategy does not succeed over the long term in Test cricket.

England should win the series but I want to put them under pressure by asking more. I want to see them have a consistent winter without producing one of those horrible performances that sets them back, such as against India at Trent Bridge this summer, or South Africa in Nottingham in 2017.

I would pick the same team for Kandy. Jonny Bairstow will return at some point but, after their first Test win overseas for two years, I would stick by the same XI. Do not overthink it, unless conditions are starkly different in Kandy. Give Jonny another week to rest his ankle and be fit for Colombo.

The fresh faces this week definitely lifted the team. There was less baggage from previous overseas defeats. Jennings did not play in Australia last winter. He was in India two years ago but played only the last two Tests and scored a hundred in one of them, so had good memories of playing in the subcontinent. Jack Leach was very solid and Foakes a natural.

Leach looks dependable. His test will come against players on a pitch that does not turn and he has to use more guile, changing angles and bowling with more flight, but his stock ball seems consistent. Monty Panesar had a great stock ball and when conditions were in his favour he was very dangerous. We do not know how Leach will cope with players going after him yet but this was a good return to the side.

Foakes showed how to bat, playing with skill, patience, a good defence and low-risk shots. With the gloves on, he looks like he has

Foakes showed how to bat. He is an old-style player; a Test cricketer. He has to stay in team

kept all his life. The way he bats, he is the perfect foil at seven for all those firecrackers in the team. England have a number of aggressive players. If you have someone who is orthodox around them, it will be so dangerous. Sometimes, a player comes along, like an Alastair Cook or an Andrew Strauss, and you sense straight away they are Test-match players. Foakes is one of those. He is an old-style player; a Test cricketer. He has to stay in the team.

After saying farewell to Cook, England needed someone to step up at the top of order. That has happened thanks to Jennings. Clearly the spinning ball does not worry him as much as a moving ball and over the next six games – two in Sri Lanka, three against West Indies and one against Ireland – he has a great chance to make big hundreds. Those teams do not have a world-class bowler between them, so cash in.

It is a great opportunity for all the batsmen to deposit some credit in the bank before the Aussies arrive next summer. Test cricket does not often fall that kindly.