Joe Root joked that he’d been forced to channel his “inner [Nasser] Hussain” in tricky batting conditions at Emirates Old Trafford, after anchoring England’s taxing run-chase in the first Test against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 62 from 128 balls.
Speaking to Hussain and Ian Ward on Sky Sports, shortly after England’s five-wicket win on the fourth evening of the match, Root referenced Hussain’s famously nuggety batting approach and career strike-rate of 40, adding that he was also now known as “Geoff” up in the England dressing-room, in reference to another English barnacle of yesteryear, Geoff Boycott.
Joking aside, Root said that he was proud of the adaptability he had demonstrated to close out England’s fourth victory in as many Tests this summer, adding that “sometimes it’s good to win ugly” – even if he hopes that the team’s more free-flowing Bazball ethos will be able to re-emerge at Lord’s and the Kia Oval in the final two matches of the series.
Not only did Root have to combat a spirited Sri Lanka bowling display led by Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya, he noted that the abrasive Old Trafford wicket, with its increasingly low bounce, was “as close to Sri Lankan conditions” as England tends to offer. In addition, an unusually slow outfield, exacerbated by heavy overnight rain during the Test match, limited England’s habitual quest for boundaries.
“It was a tricky one today,” Root said. “It was a long, slow grind, but we got there in the end. 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. It felt like that would bring the catchers in front of the bat into the game, so just had to accumulate in a slightly different way.”
Root’s innings was built around two key stands, 49 with Harry Brook and 64 with Jamie Smith, in which he was content to play second fiddle to two of the heavier hitters in the current England line-up.
“That’s the beauty of partnerships,” he said. “Someone like Brookie is always going to score freely, he hits the ball nice and firmly, and Jamie as well. He’s obviously in great form, and a natural striker, so it’s just nice to feed off each other.
“Hopefully it’s a one-off thing,” he said of England’s down-tuned approach, “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 victory was also notable for being the first of Ollie Pope‘s captaincy career. Though Pope endured a tough match with the bat, making exactly 6 in both innings, Root credited him for putting his own stamp on England’s tactics in tough circumstances, particularly while Kamindu Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal were batting through the fourth morning in a 117-run stand for the seventh wicket.
“Obviously I offered a few bits here and there, but I didn’t need to offer much,” Root said, having himself captained England on 64 occasions between 2017 and 2022. “He was very much in control of what was going on.
“It wasn’t straightforward,” Root added. “There were a few different things that you’d have to contend with. It wasn’t your typically English kind of Test match, so hats off to him. He was very good at changing things up, trying different things, and constantly trying to move the game in the right direction. So again, it’s another step in the way that we want to go as a team. And for us to do it slightly differently this week and still find a way to win is a really good sign for us.”
Root also had praise for England’s player of the match, Smith, who followed up his first-innings hundred with a vital 39 from 48 balls that prevented Sri Lanka from exerting any late pressure on a tail that was unusually long in Stokes’ absence.
“He’s a phenomenal player,” Root said. “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.”
Smith’s maiden hundred came in just his fourth Test, but he had already impressed during the West Indies series with a half-century on debut and a previous highest score of 95 at Edgbaston.
“He is very laid back, and it’s lovely to see guys coming in and it not really fazing them, or at least on the surface,” Root said. “I’d like to say it’s slightly part of the environment that we’ve created, which allows guys to come in and do that. But also a lot of credit has to go for him, for the way that he approaches the game, the way he looks at it, and how mature he is.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
