England’s Test captain Joe Root believes that the spin duo of Jack Leach and Dom Bess would be even more dangerous in the second and final Test against Sri Lanka after the duo claimed five-wicket hauls each in the first Test at Galle International Stadium.
While Bess finished with the figures of 5 for 30 to help England bowl Sri Lanka out cheaply 135 in the first innings, while Leach returned with 5-122 in the second innings to help the tourists record a seven-wicket win over the hosts in the first Test on Monday (January 18) at Galle.
Well, Sri Lanka and England will again meet in Galle to decide the winner of the ongoing two-Test series and Root said the spin duo Bess and Leach have learned a lot from the first Test and they will do even better in the final Test starting Friday, January 22.
Root told a news conference: “I think they will be better. They got a huge amount from this, not only in terms of confidence from taking wickets but the amount of time they had out there. You cannot replicate the amount of time spent out in the field in a match situation against international players.”
The right-hander further added, “Not just the actual art of spin bowing, the skill and technical elements of it, but the mental aspect of it, getting used to the heat. We didn’t have the usual lead-in to a tour that is played in such extreme conditions.”
Well, Root was named Man of the Match for his 4th Test double ton, said it wasn’t a complete effort from his team, but having got a winning start of the sub-continent tour before the India series is a great achievement and they are looking to keep improving and getting better with each game.
He further explained, “Any test win you’ve got to take a lot of confidence from, and a lot of heart from. I think the way we’ve gone about this game ... it’s not been the perfect performance, we are well aware of that ... but with the little lead-in we’ve had on this tour, it’s a great achievement.”
Root signed off by saying, “But there are a number of things we can take into the next test and we are very well aware we have to keep improving, keep getting better if we going to have continued success over the next five tests.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
