Sri Lanka v England – Conversion rate of Joe Root starts promisingly in big year for England captain

Root’s unbeaten 168 against Sri Lanka in Galle was his 18th Test century (the same number as his mentor, Michael Vaughan), eight of which have exceeded 150.

It led England to 320-4 at stumps on day two, a lead of 185, as the first Test increasingly resembled a mismatch.

One of the reasons why Root dropped out of the top-four in the world Test rankings, which he long occupied with the other members of cricket’s so-called “Fab Four”, the current one-two-three of Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, is his failure to turn fifties into centuries.

This was his first in Test cricket since he struck 226 against New Zealand at Hamilton in late 2019; the Yorkshireman had slipped to 11th in the rankings ahead of this tour, with Ben Stokes the highest-placed Englishman at No 6.

But whereas Root has the worst conversion rate of the “Fab Four” (26 per cent compared with Kohli 54, Smith 47 and Williamson 42), it is interesting to note that he has the best record when it comes to converting hundreds into scores of 150-plus.

In that respect, his conversion rate is 44 per cent compared to Kohli 37, Williamson 33 and Smith 29.

It indicates Root’s ability to “go big” when he does reach three-figures and record what the former England batsman Graham Gooch has always termed “daddy” hundreds.

But for rain, which delayed the start by more than an hour on day two and then returned to prevent further play after tea, Root might now be in the realms of a “grandaddy” hundred.

Indeed, his career-best 254 not out against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2016 may have come under threat and could yet do on day three; he was certainly playing skillfully enough to challenge that mark.

During an innings that saw him register the highest Test score by an England batsman in Sri Lanka, beating Kevin Pietersen’s 151 at Colombo in 2012, Root delivered a masterclass in how to play the turning ball, with his decision-making, footwork and placement in top working order.

His performance was also a tribute to his fitness in sapping conditions; while much of Yorkshire remained under a blanket of snow, the temperature in Galle was up in the high 20s with humidity levels in the region of 90 per cent – a world away from Abbeydale Park in mid-January, for sure.

To say that this was a big innings for Root at the start of a big year is an understatement akin to saying that it tends to get rather cold in England during the winter.

This is the first of 17 Tests (18 if you include the final Ashes Test early next January) that will go a long way towards defining how history will remember him as a captain and batsman.

The series in Australia, along with home and away engagements against India, will test his mettle in both regards and also that of his developing team.

Williamson’s New Zealand, now the No 1-ranked side, are also due to visit England in the summer, subject to confirmation.

Stiffer challenges therefore await, but Root could hardly have begun 2021, both personally and team-wise, in better shape, with England odds-on to go 1-0 up in this two-match series.

The 30-year-old must surely have grown as tired of talk about his conversion rate as anyone, and there was a steely look in his eyes – along with the usual joie de vivre – as he played as fluently and flawlessly as he could have wished.

Yes, there was the odd tremor – there always is if you bat for that length of time, but nothing to dispel the impression of a man in control.

Perhaps the closest that he came to falling was when he reverse-swept a ball from left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya into the ground and then up into short-leg’s hands via the glove. This seemed to flummox some observers, who forgot the time-honoured truth that a batsman can hardly be caught if the ball hits the ground.

At the other end, after fellow Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow fell in the day’s second over, caught close in off Embuldeniya without adding to his overnight 47, Dan Lawrence looked accomplished on debut.

The Essex batsman scored 73 – coincidentally the same number of runs that Root made in his first Test innings, against India at Nagpur in 2012, the pair sharing 173 before Lawrence was out with tea approaching.

He had just shown signs of wobbling a touch – he was dropped on 60 and 68 – when he was undone by a turning, bouncing delivery from off-spinner Dilruwan Perera with the second new ball, which he clipped to Kusal Mendis at short-leg.

Mendis, whose first-day duck was his fourth Test duck in succession, must have walked under a ladder and/or in front of a black cat, seeing as he also took a fearful pounding in that position from Root, which eventually forced him off for treatment.

Were Brian Close looking down from the pavilion in the sky, he would have admired the way in which Mendis soaked up the blows, although Close would only have left the field in such circumstances in a wooden box, such was the Yorkshireman’s bravery in that position.

It was certainly a perilous place to be fielding to Root, who swept with aplomb and no little power. It helped him to rotate the strike and ensure that Lawrence was never out of sync; Root must be a fine player to bat with, as well as to watch.

He finished the day nine runs short of 8,000 in Tests and with the air of a man eying plenty more in the coming 12 months.

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