Joe Root celebrated his 33rd Test century with a raised fist and a quick glance over his shoulder to double check his favourite steer through third man had glided up the slope to the boundary under the Compton Stand.
It was understated and efficient, bereft of over exuberance, just like his batting on the opening day of the second Test at Lord’s where he equalled Sir Alastair Cook as the scorer of the most Test hundreds for England.
There was a look skyward too, for Graham Thorpe, whose batting he channelled in a gritty innings that held England together and put them in a good position at 358 for seven. It was the kind of sleeve rolling in adversity Thorpe relished and Root admired him for. Thorpe was the England Lions batting coach and started working with Root a year before he had even scored a first-class hundred.
Now Root has 33 in Test cricket alone, six at Lord’s (equalling that record too held by Michael Vaughan and Graham Gooch) and two this summer as he marches unstoppable towards Cook’s other record, the most Test runs for England (he is 198 short).
From the moment he clipped the first ball of his innings off his legs for four, Root looked in the mood to extend his fine summer and re-emergence from the reverse scoop of Rajkot that brought so much opprobrium from outside and caused angst within.
The Telegraph’s own Scyld Berry, who has covered nearly 500 Test matches, described it as the most “stupid shot” in England’s history. “What a chump” said Sir Geoffrey Boycott. Cook suggested on Test Match Special the reason it hurt so much was because Root is a team man and he knew he had let England down getting out at a pivotal moment in the series.
Suddenly Root became the emblem for all that was wrong with Bazball - too funky, too ambitious and too dogmatic because it had forced even an artist like him to be the vibes guy playing with reckless abandon.
Root took it on board. And because he is a student of batting, learned from it. Since Rajkot he has averaged 86.77 at a strike rate of 58.81, back to roughly his overall career mark of a nice cruising speed of 56. Before Rajkot, under Bazball, Root scored at 73 runs per 100 balls, had struck 19 sixes in 37 innings and was stumped for the first time in his career trying to whack Nathan Lyon over the top. After Rajkot, not a single six has been risked. At Old Trafford last week he did the dirty work, scoring match-winning runs in a testing run chase, even waiting until he had faced 92 balls before hitting a four. Post-Rajkot, it has been growth without over-reach.
The imp remains within and constantly needs to be battled, such is the mental nature of Test cricket. Root fell caught at point playing the scoop with England 308 for six but at least by then he had put them in a strong position, possibly a match-defining one.
England have benefitted hugely from Root’s resurgence. He has provided 22.26 percent of the team’s runs in the last seven Tests. To put that in context, the best ever career percentage is Donald Bradman at 24.28 (George Headley next on 21). For six months England have had their own Bradman.
His 143 plugged the gaps caused by some wishy-washy batting by others. Ben Duckett made a good 40, Harry Brook a breezy 33 and Jamie Smith looked superb again on his way to 21 but all three perished to unforced errors. Duckett fell reverse sweeping, his strength proving his weakness, in the only over of spin before lunch, Brook’s footwork was leaden as he played across the line and Smith for once lost his shape aiming a big drive outside off stump.
Ollie Pope’s scratchy starting is back to its worst, like a car with a flooded engine. The burden of captaincy on an anxious player is only increasing his skittishness. He chatted to Root about how to switch off and chill. It did not work: Pope was caught pulling for his third single figure score in a row, out playing the first attacking shot of his innings.
Only Gus Atkinson with a swashbuckling 74 at No 8, batting in the warm evening light, looked on a par with Root, the pair adding 92 from a crucial point at 216 for six when the innings could have petered out. In the end, England proved Sri Lanka were wrong to bowl first on a lovely August day.
Atkinson’s runs were important because England need a No 8 in Australia who can bat, and not go the way of so many tailenders on past Ashes tours. Atkinson played some lovely strokes, hitting two sixes that looked more like Root than a No 8. It was more solid progress from one of the finds of the summer.
Root laid the groundwork, finding the gaps with precision in an 84-ball fifty that contained only four fours as he anchored the innings. He attacked spinner Prabath Jayasuriya after tea, going aerial for once to move to 96. He stayed on 99 for two overs, the crowd urging him on with cries of “Roooot” when a possible single opened up. But Root has seen it all before - 32 times before. He waited for the right ball, one wide outside off that allowed him to open the bat face and place where he wanted.
With the celebrations over, Root moved up a gear his next 43 coming off 44 balls and Sri Lanka looked flat for the first time, their bustling quick Kumara Mendis tiring a little but the best of the attack with two for 75. Atkinson thrashed a four to move into the 70s in the final over, the total now one that promises a decent game and potentially a solid chunk of play on day four. Lord’s might shift some extra tickets after all.
