Punting pointers from second Test in Pallekele

England arrived in Sri Lanka on a 13-match winless streak away from home but they followed up their victory in the first Test in Galle with a 57-run win in Pallekele on Sunday.

Moeen Ali and Jack Leach shared nine wickets in the second innings as Sri Lanka came up short of a target of 301 and England can take great pride in the way they adapted to unfamiliar conditions.

Spinners took 38 of the 40 wickets in the Test – and one of the two to elude the slow bowlers was a stunning run-out executed by Ben Stokes – while Root's swashbuckling 124 off 146 balls in the second innings earned him the man-of-the-match award.

England are evens to complete a 3-0 series sweep with victory at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, where the third Test starts on Friday.

Punting pointers from Pallekele

England sweep all before them
On a turning pitch, England's plan was simple: bat positively and put runs on the board before the inevitable unplayable delivery gets you out.

That meant plenty of sweeping – conventional and reverse – which brought runs at a decent rate but also proved the downfall of the top seven batsmen in England's second innings.

In normal circumstances in-play punters betting on the method of next dismissal can expect 'caught' to be a short-priced favourite but six batsmen were out lbw in England's second innings with another three bowled.

Expectations high for lower-order batsmen
Root is often compared with his batting peers Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith and any of those three would have been thrilled to play a knock as good as the skipper's century.

Yet top-runscorer honours in the first innings of the Test went to England number eight Sam Curran and Roshen Silva, who came in at seven for Sri Lanka.

Ben Foakes scored a first-innings ton from number seven in the first Test and punters shouldn't shy away from backing talented batsmen to top-score just because of their lowly position in the order.

Lankan opener hoping for change of luck
Batting rarely looked easy in Pallekele but Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne made serene progress to 63 in the first innings before being run out by a stunning direct hit from Stokes.

It took another brilliant piece of fielding – short leg Keaton Jennings scooping the ball up one-handed for Foakes to complete the catch – to get rid of Karunaratne in the second innings and the opener will feel he is due better luck in Colombo.

He made 53 and 85 at the SSC against South Africa in July, having scored 158 not out and 60 in the first Test of that series, and remains the Lankans' most consistent performer with the bat.

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