Root masterclass holds up Sri Lanka

Former Sri Lanka Captain Mahela Jayawardene had the honour of ringing the five-minute bell before the start of play on the first day at Lord’s in the second cricket Test between Sri Lanka and England yesterday

England’s Joe Root celebrates his 33rd Test hundred and his fifth gainst Sri Lanka

England’s Gus Atkinson reaches to his maiden Test fifty with a boundary

Sri Lanka gets the wicket of England Captain Ollie Pope cheaply for one 

• Sri Lanka loses the plot in final session of play

LORD’S: Joe Root blunted a spirited Sri Lankan bowling performance scoring his 33rd Test century, fifth against Sri Lanka and sixth at Lord’s to help England end the first day of the second cricket Test on an impressive 358-7 after being invited to bat first.

For the first two sessions Sri Lanka had the game very much under their control picking up five England wickets for 200, but in the final session they lost their grip and allowed England to come back strongly as 158 runs were scored off 35 overs, 43 of them in eight overs with the second new ball.

Runs were hard to come by but with the pitch slowing down and the second new ball and tired bowlers, England pounced on the opportunity to put the Sri Lankan attack to the sword.

Sri Lanka’s decision to bowl first on a bright and sunny day took everyone by surprise. Although there wasn’t much assistance for the pacers Sri Lanka managed to prize out three wickets in the first session.

Dan Lawrence (9) chased a wide ball to nick one behind the wicket, Ollie Pope (1) fell to a short ball from Asitha Fernando and Ben Duckett holed out at 40 while trying to reverse-sweep Prabath Jayasuriya.

Despite a couple of partnerships built in the post-lunch session, Sri Lanka managed to chip away as they picked up two more wickets in that phase removing Harry Brooks for 33 and first Test century maker Jamie Smith for 21. When Chris Woakes was bounced out for six, England were 216/6 and De Silva’s decision to bowl didn’t seem like a bad move.

But Root and Atkinson bailed England out of trouble with a 92-run stand for the seventh wicket off 111 balls. Root, who got off the mark with a boundary off the very first ball, batted with a lot of conviction against some disciplined bowling. He wasn’t perturbed by the wickets falling at the other end and notched up his 33rd Test hundred off 162 balls (13 fours), thereby levelling with Sir Alastair Cook for the most Test centuries by an England batsman.

With the second new ball not too far away, Root attempted a reverse scoop and against the run of play was dismissed for 143 scored off 206 balls (18 fours). Sri Lanka failed to capitalise on that wicket and leaked runs with the second new ball with Gus Atkinson getting to this maiden Test fifty off 61 balls (3 fours, 3 sixes) and forging an unbeaten 50-run stand off 63 balls with Matthew Potts (20*).

Prior to the commencement of play former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene had the honour of ringing the five-minute bell. Jayawardene has the distinction of scoring two Test hundreds at Lord’s, the only Sri Lankan to do so.