England send Ashes warning to Australia as Joe Root takes team to another level

As far as statements of intent go, England securing a rare overseas Test series win – and a first in Sri Lanka since 2001 – was an emphatic one just eight months before the start of the next Ashes series.

Yet it’s not just the results but the positivity of England’s cricket during the victories in Galle and Kandy that will worry the Australians, who by next summer will be searching for a first away Ashes series success in 18 years.

They are likely to have both Steve Smith and David Warner back by then following their bans for ball-tampering in South Africa earlier this year.

However, this is a very different England side to the one both of those players helped demolish 4-0 in Australia last winter.

Following the international retirement of former captain Alastair Cook in September, Root appears to have taken this group of players to another level on the albeit limited evidence of these first two Tests in Sri Lanka.

Nevertheless, they will rise to second in the world Test rankings after this series regardless of the result of this week’s final match in Colombo. After Australia, Root’s first series away from home as captain, they were fifth.

Cook was a stalwart of England’s Test team for 12 years, becoming his country’s leading runscorer and century-maker in the process. But perhaps his absence has helped Root? With Cook gone the responsibility on his shoulders in terms of batting is now his alone and without a former captain in the dressing-room he has been emboldened to truly stamp his mark on this team.

That certainly seemed the case in Kandy, where Root scored a magnificent second-innings century that wrested back control of a Test his side eventually secured by 57 runs 31 minutes into the final day.

His fourth overseas Test hundred was surely the personal highlight of Root’s 18 months in charge of England.

It also made good on the promises Root made that he wanted this team to replicate the positivity of an England one-day side that has risen to the top of the world rankings playing truly exhilarating cricket under Eoin Morgan.

“It was great to watch,” said coach Trevor Bayliss. “He’s made some statements about how he wants the team to play and sometimes I feel he might be putting himself under a bit of pressure by doing that. But hopefully this is a sign he can get the combination right and go out and play because it was a fantastic innings under a lot of pressure.”

Root’s was the kind of match-defining innings both Smith and India captain Virat Kohli have made their leitmotif in recent years. The Yorkshireman also kept his cool in the field on the fourth afternoon when Sri Lanka were threatening to chase down a target of 301.

“I think he’ll just get better and better as a captain, not just as a player,” Bayliss said. “If you get some experience and some wins under your belt you learn what works and what doesn’t.’

If results go England’s way over the next few months, namely India losing in Australia and Root’s team securing another series win in the Caribbean, victory in next summer’s Ashes could see them rise to No1 in the world for the first time since 2011.

The fact England have managed to win in Sri Lanka without either Stuart Broad or Jonny Bairstow is a sign of their strength in depth.

That both established players have bought into the decisions is another sign, Bayliss believes, England are heading in the right direction. “I think that shows the environment there is around this group and it won’t be just about eleven players going forward,” he said. “It’ll be about a squad that hopefully gets this team to No1 in the world.”