Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root steady England after Sri Lanka remove openers early

It was typical of the Yorkshire pair, who have played together for so long, with strong running and pressure-easing boundaries. They swept plenty when the off-spinners bowled over the wicket and, when they went round, Bairstow boshed down the ground for four more. In the course of taking 14 from an an Embuldeniya over – with boundaries swept, reverse-swept, and cut – Root overtook Geoffrey Boycott to move sixth on England’s all-time leading Test runscorers list. Bairstow, who survived a tight lbw review from Perera, was quite happy to settle in the slipstream of Root’s superb counter-atttack.

Anderson took three of England’s four wickets on the opening day, and three more on Saturday, on as lifeless a pitch as a seamer could hope to find. He maintained his Scrooge-like economy, recording final figures of 29-13-40-6. It was his second five-wicket haul in Asia – the other also came at Galle, nine years ago. He now has 66 wickets in Asia at an average of 29 and an economy of 2.6. He really is a marvel.  

What’s more, Anderson picked up the big wickets as England kept Sri Lanka on a leash. In the second over of the day, he had the centurion Angelo Mathews caught behind with a faint spike on DRS (with the review coming just as much for lbw as caught behind). Mark Wood had the debutant Ramesh Mendis caught brilliantly by the diving Jos Buttler down the legside a couple of overs later, and england were right on top.  

But Niroshan Dickwella counter-attacked with Dilruwan Perera and by lunch, England needed Anderson back in the attack. He duly delivered the wicket of Dickwella, who miscued to mid-off eight shy of a maiden century, then Suranga Lakmal, caught at gully in the same over, Anderson’s 200th wicket away from home. Dickwella’s had been a sparkling little innings.  

When Anderson went off, Perera managed to hustle 39 more with only Embuldeniya – who was well caught at first slip by Root off Wood – last man Asitha Fernando for company. Perera was the 10th wicket to fall, caught in the deep off Sam Curran for a very enterprising 67.  

England’s senior players had kept England in the game with the ball, and the same would be true with the bat.