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Huge captaincy accolade for Joe Root following England's seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Galle
England's win over Sri Lanka was the 24th of Root's career, which puts him second on England's list of all-time successful Test captains.
With a convincing seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the series at Galle, Joe Root took a giant step as one of England cricket's greatest captains. England's win over Sri Lank was the 24th of Root's career, which puts him second on England's list of all-time successful Test captains.
Root has equalled former captains Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, who had led England to 24 Test wins each during their captaincy tenured, and the 30-year-old batsman is only two Tests away from tying Michael Vaughan as the most successful England captain of all time.
"To come here with little preparation, and play in the manner we have has been really impressive. Great effort yesterday, not a lot fell for us, and for the two spinners to get five-fors is a brilliant effort, particularly with the little cricket they've played," Root said after the match.
"Series like these are always tough but without the prep it's testament to their characters. To perform like we did after lunch was a good effort, we'll keep looking to get better, but a really pleasing start. [Spinners] Brilliant achievement, think the exciting thing is there's more to come from this group, most important thing is we have that attitude into the next Tests.
"[Bubbles] Number of challenges, really important looking to perform as a group, find ways to stay together, something we did well this game. [Innings] Thing that pleased me the most was my mindset, felt I got into a good place, managed to get my feet apart and get forward and back well, good balance between attack and defence and didn't waver. People have been critical of my conversion, so nice to go and make a big one."
This was also England's fifth consecutive Test win in Sri Lanka. The little streak began all the way back in 2012, during which England levelled the series 1-1. In 2018, England whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0, followed by the victory that was registered on Monday.
