England make perfect start to mammoth year with clean sweep for Joe Root

A 2-0 series win in Sri Lanka against the backdrop of two lost tosses and virtually no preparation proves England at least possess the mental resilience to make 2021 a special year.

They travel to India on Wednesday to begin six days' isolation, able to spend the lonely quarantine hours reflecting on a fine job and feeling more sure-footed about playing the best team in the world next month in their own conditions.

Their captain, Joe Root, has started the defining year of his captaincy in superb form. He was the runaway man of the series after scoring 426 runs at an average of 106.50, leading from the front and giving colleagues two masterclasses in how to play spin in Asia.

This six wicket win was England’s fifth successive victory in away Tests, the first time that has happened in more than a century, and Root’s fourth series win in a row in partnership with coach Chris Silverwood.

The two spinners finished with respectable enough figures: 12 wickets at 21.25 for Dom Bess and 11 at 35.50 for Jack Leach. They did a decent job, even though they never bowled consistently for long enough. Stuart Broad and James Anderson proved up for the challenge on Asian pitches, leading intelligently with the new ball. Ben Stokes strengthens all three aspects of the team while Jofra Archer will be keen to up the ante after seeing Mark Wood bowl quickly on a flat Galle pitch. England now need to find runs from someone not called Joe.

England possess self belief and Root is building a Test team of substance. They should be more competitive than on their last India tour four years ago.

• Improved Dom Sibley's fifty in run chase is welcome, but he will face far sterner tests in India

Despite the absence of three regulars, and preparations limited to a tent in Loughborough and one day on a green pitch in Hambantota, England defied their reputation as slow starters to overpower Sri Lanka, who had the chance to control matches batting first on turning pitches.

An entertaining series ended with an extraordinary day of Test cricket. It began with England’s last pair at the crease and Sri Lanka in the ascendancy, and finished with Dom Sibley sweeping the winning runs, capping his own personal “stinker” of a series with an unbeaten 56.

In between, Sri Lanka imploded for the second time with the bat to be left wondering what difference an extra 50 runs would have made to both games.

Sri Lanka looked a team unused to winning as they surrendered to Bess and Leach in one session and England created a piece of unique history becoming the first team to take 10 wickets in the first innings of a Test with seam, and 10 in the second with spin.

Four wickets each for Bess and Leach when the pressure was on to deliver in the third innings was encouraging. Neither bowled brilliantly, and there were some bad balls again, but their experience of a turning pitch in Taunton showed as panicky Sri Lankans squandered a 41-run lead to be bowled out for 126 in 35.5 overs.

It left a tricky, but not impossible target of 164. What will please Root is that England won by six wickets with him only contributing 11 runs. Instead it was Jos Buttler and Sibley (Test cricket oddest couple?), who stayed calm with an unbroken 75-run stand. Left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya playing a lone hand for Sri Lanka with ten wickets in the match.

Dinesh Chandimal, the Sri Lanka captain, had a shocking day following an abysmal shot with some poor tactics as he gave Sibley, who had scored six runs in three innings, singles on the onside to get going, although his two off-spinners did not help by bowling too straight. Sibley watched the ball better, and used his feet to get over the ball in defence, but admitted he was lucky to survive three lbws on the backfoot.

The day started with England’s last pair adding only four runs but it was not long before Sri Lanka started to flap; Leach struck with his third ball when Kusal Perera was lbw playing a big sweep.

Lahiru Thirimanne had to stay in and let others bat around him but clipped to short leg where Crawley, anticipating well, held onto a catch off the full face of the bat.

In an innings peppered with poor shots, the most guilty were Angelo Mathews and Chandimal. Mathews barely swept in his first innings hundred but was bowled playing the shot on 11. Chandimal lifted Leach over midwicket for four and tried to repeat the shot next ball only to mistime and Anderson take an excellent catch over his shoulder running round from mid on.

Sri Lanka were soon 76 for eight and sinking when Ramesh Mendis was caught off his boot. Embuldeniya gave himself something to bowl at with a career best 40 off 42 balls but the fightback was broken by Root, who had seen enough and took action himself. Embuldeniya edged Root to slip and Asitha Fernando was bowled first ball. All of sudden Root had two for nought. Easy this bowling spin in Asia lark.

England are good in tight Test matches. Just ask Australia. With Chandimal backing off, and three World Cup winners in the top six, England always felt in control even when Root was bowled around his legs and Dan Lawrence became Embuldeniya’s tenth wicket, caught off an inside edge – suddenly looking a lot less assured against spin than on debut – leaving his side 89 for four, 75 still needed.

Sibley had to hang in at times before looking more solid and Buttler offered a sharp caught and bowled on 18 to Ramesh Mendis that would have made England tense had it stuck. In the end, Sibley could not have asked for a calmer partner to close out the series.