Twitter Reactions: Dominant England complete formality to take a lead of 1-0 at Galle

It was a rather anticlimactic end to the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Galle after Lasith Embuldeniya made early inroads towards the end of day four, to leave England in tatters at 14 for 3. However, it did not come down to any drama on the fifth morning as Jonny Bairstow and Dan Lawrence ended up guiding their team to a 7-wicket win to take an unassailable lead of 1-0 in the series.

There did not seem to be many demons on the fifth-day track and, whatever little did, the duo of Bairstow and Lawrence battled it with great gusto. Dan Lawrence survived a review off Perera as early as the opening over of the day after he attempted an unsuccessful reverse sweep to take a hit on his pads.

Desperate, and quite understandably, for wickets, Chandimal went to Embuldeniya to repeat his heroics from the previous day. However, the task was uphill for Sri Lanka to restrict England needing under 30 runs with 7 wickets in hands.

Lawrence-Bairstow guide England home

Much to Sri Lanka’s dismay, they missed out reviewing Lawrence, in what was the only opportunity for them to get a wicket in the morning. Bairstow and Lawrence eventually managed to see off everything en route to their unbeaten 62-run partnership and Bairstow’s sweep off Perera in the 25th over marked England’s famous victory, which is their second consecutive in Galle.

Though Sri Lanka can take much heart for the resilience and spirit in the second innings after the visitors skittled them out for a paltry 135 – the lowest score at Galle, they will need to admit that they lacked the character for the larger part of the game, with both bat and ball.

The story for Sri Lanka, as Dinesh Chandimal, the stand-in captain in the post-match said, “could have been different” had they managed 70-80 runs more for England to chase, but such realizations in hindsight will be of little help for the home side, who are due for the second Test at the same venue in 4 days.

For England, the fifers of Dom Bess and Jack Leach apart from Joe Root‘s spectacular double ton and a promising show from debutant Dan Lawrence will remain the highlights, they would be keener to win another to emulate their 2018 clean-sweep Sri Lanka.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

That's 4 times England won in a row in tests in Sri Lanka. Phenomenal#SLvsENG

— 🤦‍♂️ (@nervynetworks) January 18, 2021

What’s Mathews going to do for the 2nd test – get injured or more “pity pat” shot blockathons like his 71? Bizarre to see a man and team so haunted by the giant shadow of his previous incarnation #SLvsENG #SLvENG

— Amulius Victor (@AmuliusVictor) January 18, 2021

Look at us, discussing positives in lost matches. It's become a habit now. What are we? We're world Cup winners. Not associate teams. Got to hold ourselves to a higher standard. Always 1 step forward 2 steps back 😔 Rant over. #SLvsENG

— Sameer Yoonus (@samsperspective) January 18, 2021

Congratulations to @englandcricket on a clinical test match win.
The talent and depth of their squad will be tested during this tour of the sub-continent but you couldn’t ask for a better start #SLvsENG

— Armchair Critic (@ArmchairCritic6) January 18, 2021

God bless Sri Lankan Cricket until it’s a good selection ! #SLvsENG

— sam.lee (@Samanalex2) January 18, 2021

Priorities sorted? The other day #SriLanka coach #MickeyArthur was sitting in the dressing room with a red variant bottle of HIT spray near him. Today, Justin Langer has an ENTIRE bottle of Dettol in full display in #Australia dressing room. #SLvsENG #ENGvSL #AUSvsIND #INDvAUS

— Devarchit (@Devarchit) January 18, 2021

Dear England just to make sure you know win against Sri Lanka won't count 🤣😜#ENGvSL #SLvsENG

— Lisa (@Lisabadass0007) January 18, 2021

Unsurprisingly Joe Root named Man of the Match for his 228.

That's the biggest plus for England. To have the captain and best batsman in form and confident is huge as the team start a big year of 17 Tests.#SLvsENG #SLvENG

— Cricket Badger (@cricket_badger) January 18, 2021

#SLvsENG A good win for @englandcricket.

— Sai sreekar (@nyalkalkars27) January 18, 2021

Class from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

4 overseas Test victories in a row.

Back to bed 🛏 #SLvsENG #SLvENG

— Venatour (@VenatourTravel) January 18, 2021

Shout out to the lone English fan at the stadium in Galle. #Legend #SlvsEng

— Imran Ansari (@AthleticoLahore) January 18, 2021

Congratulations England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Well Played Sri Lanka Played better than the first innings 🇱🇰#SLvsENG #SriLankaCricket

— Lakshan Karunarathna (@lakshanKA) January 18, 2021

1-0 to the England!#SLvsENG

— Greg Small (@GregSmallPT) January 18, 2021

Very composed batting from @jbairstow21 & @DanLawrence288 for @englandcricket so far, no dramas so far…#SLvsENG

— Paul Johnson (@Johno1961) January 18, 2021

Test Cricket is the best Cricket.#SLvsENG #AUSvIND

— Greg Small (@GregSmallPT) January 18, 2021