SL vs ENG, 2021: 2nd Test, Day 4 – England’s winning streaks, A rare successful chase at Galle and more stats

England clinched the 2-match Test series against Sri Lanka following a thrilling 4th day’s play at the Galle where 15 wickets fell. England got bowled out for 344 in their first innings after adding five runs on the 4th morning. Sri Lanka, who walked in with a lead of 37 runs in hand, kept throwing the wickets away and crumbled to 78/8. Lasith Embuldeniya, the star for Sri Lanka with the ball, scored a quick 40 to help Sri Lanka set a target of 164.

Embuldeniya took three of the four wickets to fall in England’s chase which was completed with the contributions from Dominic Sibley (56*) and Jos Buttler (46*).

Here are all the statistical highlights from England’s Test series win against Sri Lanka at the Galle:

England’s winning streaks:

5 – England won each of their last five Test matches played away from home; a streak that began by winning their last three Tests during the 2019-20 tour of South Africa.

The last instance of England winning five or more successive away Tests 107 years ago when they won seven consecutive away Tests between 1911 and 1914. England did win five or more consecutive away Tests before their streak in the 1910s – 6 successive Tests in 1885-1889 and five Tests in a row in 1895-1897.

6 – England ended up on the winning side in each of their last six Test matches on Sri Lanka soil; their 2nd longest winning streak in Test cricket in any away country. The English team won each of their first eight Test matches played on South African soil.

Root levels with Kohli and Ponting:

5 – Joe Root became only the 2nd captain after Virat Kohli to win as many as five Tests on Sri Lankan soil. Both Root and Kohli have five Test wins as captain in Sri Lanka, all of them coming in their last five Tests in the country.

5 – Joe Root has won each of his five matches as captain in Test cricket on Sri Lankan soil. He is only the 2nd captain to win each of his first five Test matches in an away country. Ricky Ponting did win each of his first five Tests on South African soil before losing his 6th and final Test as a skipper in the country.

England’s rare feat:

1 – All the ten wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings were picked by England’s pacers while the ten wickets in the 2nd essay were claimed by their spinners. This is the first-ever instance of a team having all ten wickets in an innings picked by the pacers and all ten in the other bagged by the spinners in the same Test match.

A rare successful chase at Galle:

164 – England’s successful chase of the 164-run target is now the first 100+ run-chase by a visiting team at Galle. This is also the 2nd highest successful chase by any team at Galle in Test cricket behind the 268-run chase by Sri Lanka in the 2019 Test against New Zealand.

37 – The lead of 37 runs in this game was the 2nd highest first-innings lead which England conceded in Asia during a Test match which they won. The highest is the 46-run lead during the 2018 Pallekele Test also against Sri Lanka but while batting first.

Sri Lanka’s low total:

126 – The total of 126/10 by Sri Lanka in their 2nd innings is now their 2nd lowest total in Test cricket at the Galle International stadium. Their lowest total at this venue is 105 in their first innings of the 2011 Test against Australia.

Root strikes with the ball:

1 – Joe Root became the first player in the history of Test cricket to bag multiple wickets without conceding a run in the match. Root is also the 2nd player to claim two or more wickets in a Test innings without giving away a run. Richie Benaud had three wickets to his name in India’s first innings of the 1959 Delhi Test without conceding a run.

A fighting effort in defeat:

4 – Lasith Embuldeniya recorded only the 4th instance of a 10-wicket match haul for Sri Lanka in Test cricket resulting in a defeat. Muttiah Muralitharan in the 2004 Galle Test against Australia and during the 2008 Nottingham Test against Australia took 11 and 10 wickets respectively in defeats while Ajantha Mendis also claimed 10 wickets during their defeat against India in the 208 Galle Test.

Root @ 1000 runs:

1001 – Runs Joe Root has scored in his Test career against Sri Lanka thus far; the 2nd most Test runs by an Englishman against the Lankans behind Sir Alastair Cook’s 1290 runs.