It was quite evident before the start of the three-Test series that England were a completely different kettle of fish in comparison to the South Africans and so it proved. Although Sri Lanka whitewashed the Proteas 2-0 with ease it was not in the case of England who had come well prepared to take on the challenge Sri Lanka would pose not only with its players but with the sultry conditions and dry turning pitches.
The result was that Joe Root’s men outplayed Sri Lanka to become only the second England team in 55 years to win a series 3-0 away from home, the last occasion being in New Zealand in 1963. It was also England’s first whitewash in a full Test series in Asia and only the third time Sri Lanka had lost 3-0 at home after 2004 (v Australia) and 2017 (v India).
The downfall of Sri Lanka was two-fold. Their batsmen failed to put up sufficient runs on the board and their fielding especially the catching continued to be their bane despite the numerous assurances given by the coach and his staff on the number of occasions they were questioned about fielding.
The fact that none of the Lankan batsmen were able to score a hundred in the series after settling down saw Sri Lanka cross the 300-run mark only once in comparison to England’s four occasions. Four batsmen Roshen Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis all got into the eighties but failed to go and make a big score.
Sri Lanka of course were without their captain Dinesh Chandimal (injured) for the last two Tests. His presence would have certainly bolstered the middle order batting and made a difference.
The last 3-Test series Sri Lanka went through without a single centurion took place in South Africa in December-January 2017 where only three fifties were scored and the top score was 59. On that occasion too Sri Lanka suffered a 3-0 whitewash.
Sri Lanka of course were outplayed in the first Test at Galle, but at Pallekele and at the SSC there were moments where they could have turned the game in their favour but probably through lack of experience they let England claw back and eventually beat them.
Coach Chandika Hathurusingha was of the view that “the difference between the two teams was very little and that England came out on top because they were able to handle tough situations well”.
One of the core factors since the departure of the Big Three – Jayawardene, Sangakkara and Dilshan to emerge is the batsmen’s weakness against top quality spin. As long as these three were around the weakness was not exposed but now it has come to light since their departure.
Sri Lanka’s strength has been spin especially against non-subcontinent sides and to help their trundlers the pitches were prepared suitably – dry turning surfaces. However England had in their ranks two coaches Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace who had embraced that kind of preparation before being coaches of the Lankan team at different times and had firsthand experience of the types of pitches and conditions they would encounter on the tour. England came well prepared to counter that.
They did so with great success with their three-prong spin attack of Jack Leach (left-arm spin), Moin Ali (off-spin) and Adil Rashid (leg-spin) who amongst them took 48 of the 56 wickets to fall to bowlers. To say the least England had a spin bowling attack that had all fronts covered and captain Root the luxury of using them according to situations.
On the bowling front the Lankan spinners spearheaded by Dilruwan Perera played their part magnificently only to be let down by the other two departments. Perera with his tally of 22 wickets in the series – the most by either side has more or less assumed the role as the main spinner of the side following the retirement of Rangana Herath at the end of the first Test at Galle.
He was supported well by Akila Dananjaya (10 wickets), Malinda Pushpakumara (9) and Lakshan Sandakan (7). Herath in his final Test took three wickets. Exactly 100 of the 116 wickets that fell across the three Tests were taken by spinners – comfortably a record for a three-match series. The previous record was 79 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in 1998. Of the 100 wickets Sri Lanka accounted for 51 and England 49.
One of the reasons for the England spinners’ success was the presence of 6.07 feet tall Keaton Jennings at short leg who took some outstanding catches in that position and had eight in the series.
Jennings brought back memories of the days when India had Eknath Solkar, arguably the greatest forward shortleg fielder in the history of Test cricket (without a helmet, arm guards or shin guards), to their spin quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar and Venkatraghavan in the sixties and seventies. These four were one of the most deadly combinations in world cricket especially on dusty subcontinent surfaces accounting for 853 wickets from 231 Tests.
Jennings along with Root and Bairstow were one of four England batsmen to score a hundred in the series. However the man who stole the limelight and walked away with the Player of the Series award was Ben Foakes who had a dream series. An injury to regular wicket-keeper Bairstow ahead of the Test series saw Foakes making his Test debut and marking it with a hundred and then following it up with another important half-century at Pallekele that won England the series. His wicket-keeping also complimented his batting to bring him the award.
Root’s team achieved what no other England team had done on a tour of Sri Lanka winning in all three formats – Tests (3-0), ODIs (3-1) and the one-off T20I – a performance that sees them no. 2 in the Tests rankings, no. 1 in ODIs and no. 3 in T20Is.
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