Joe Root Comments On England Winning First Test: England star-batter Joe Root has commented on the England Cricket Team’s hard-fought win over Sri Lanka, saying that sometimes it is good to get an ugly win.
The English took on the Lankan Lions in the first of three Test matches in Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground. Sl won the toss and chose to bat first, scoring 236 runs, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva scoring 74 and no. 9 batter Milan Rathnayake scoring 72. In response, England scored 358 as wicketkeeper Jamie Smith scored his first Test century.
In the third inning, Kamindu Mendis scored a century as the Lankan scored 326 runs. With 205 runs needed to win and five sessions remaining, the three Lions chased the target down at the end of the fourth day, winning the match by five wickets as Joe Root scored a solid 62.
Joe Root Comments On England Winning First Test
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Root called England’s win over the Sri Lanka Cricket Team in the first Test ‘ugly’, claiming that the pitch lost a lot of pace as the match proceeded and that he had a hard time trying to time the ball.
“Hopefully it’s a one-off thing, but sometimes it’s good to win ugly. And we’ve still got a day [out of five] to go, so we’re still sticking by the principles that we want to live by, and we’re evolving as a team. The outfield is as long as I’ve seen for a long time in England, and the wicket itself obviously lost a lot of pace throughout. So it was quite hard to time the ball, and I didn’t really feel comfortable trying to muscle it,” said the former captain.
This was, in a sense, a memorable Test for Joe Root, who surpassed Rahul Dravid and Allan Border in the list of most Test 50s. Having scored 62 in the second inning against Sri Lanka, the 33-year-old now has 64 half-centuries in the format, which is the third most in the history of Tests, only behind Sachin Tendulkar and Shivnarine Chanderpaul at 68 and 66, respectively.
Discussing the game with the media following the match, Root also praised Jamie Smith, who scored a fine 111 in England’s first inning, saying,
“He’s a phenomenal player. His glovework’s been exceptional, but his batting, I think you’ve seen everything you want from a No. 7. He can bat with the tail and take the game on aggressively. And then he’s managed periods of play throughout this innings, and the first innings in particular, where he’s been able to soak things up, knock it around, and then put his foot down when he needs to.”
After the first England vs Sri Lanka Test went the way of the English, the two teams will face in the second of the three matches starting August 29 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
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