Smith, Root, Woakes shine as England beat valiant Sri Lanka by 5 wickets

MANCHESTER: Power packed performances from Joe Root, Chris Woakes and Jamie Smith helped hosts England to successfully tackle a fighting Sri Lankan unit as they defeated the Asian side by five wickets in the first Test at Manchester on Friday.

England take a 1-0 lead in two-match series. SL won the toss and opted to bat first.

Struggling at 113/7, it was knocks from skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (74 in 84 balls, with eight fours) and Milan Rathnayake (72 in 135 balls, with six fours and two sixes) that pushed SL to 236/10.

Silva and Rathnayake had a 63 run partnership for the eighth wicket, followed by a fifty-run stand between Rathnayake and Vishwa Fernando (13).

Crhis Woakes (3/32) and Shoaib Bashir (3/55) were the top bowlers for England. Despite a poor start and a tricky score of 67/3, fine performances from middle order batters Joe Root (42 in 57 balls with four boundaries), Harry Brook (56 in 73 balls with four boundaries), centurion Jamie Smith (111 in 148 balls, with eight fours and a six) helped England attain a lead of 122 runs as they were bundled out for 358 runs.

Root and Brook shared a 58-run fourth wicket partnership, while Jamie was involved in half-century stand with Brook, Woakes and Gus Atkinson, with his stand alongside Atkinson (20) being a standout one of worth 66 runs for seventh wicket.

Ashitha Fernando (4/103) and Prabhat Jayasuriya (3/85) delivered fine spells for Sri Lanka. In their second innings, SL once again found themselves in a troublesome position, with the score reading 95/4.

However, veterans Angelo Matthews (65 in 145 balls, with two fours and a six), Dinesh Chandimal (79 in 119 balls, with seven fours) formed a 78-run partnership to push SL towards a lead. Later, keeping his fine form, Kamindu Mendis slammed his second Test ton in five innings, scoring 113 in 183 balls, with 15 fours and a six.

SL put up a total of 326/10, giving them a respectable lead of 204 runs. It was Kamindu's 117-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Chandimal that pushed SL beyond the 300-run mark. Woakes and Matthew Potts (3/47) took fine three wickets each to lead England bowling charts.

In reply, England was in a tight position at 70/3. However, Root's calm and composed half-century (62* in 128 balls with two fours) and solid contributions from Brook (32 in 68 balls, with three fours) and Smith (39* in 48 balls, with four boundaries and a six) took England to a five wicket win.

Smith took home 'Player of the Match' award for his century and fine efforts behind the stumps.