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Joe Root temporarily abandoned the more aggressive instincts of ‘Bazball’ but kept England’s winning ways going by beating Sri Lanka by five wickets in the first Test match, taking the team to four wins from four this summer.

England were facing a 205-run chase early on the fourth afternoon of the season opener and were unable to produce the kind of fourth-innings fireworks that have become their trademark in recent years, but they emerged triumphant thanks to Root’s hard-worked half-century.

After losing three wickets in a nerve-wracking pre-tea period, they had to put on the brakes in front of a calm crowd at Emirates Old Trafford, but only managed to do so deep into the evening session, after 58 overs.

Root kept the ship steady with a vigilant 49-metre stand with Harry Brook and made sure he held on until the end, reaching the 62-metre stand but handing substitute Ollie Pope the win in his first game at the helm.

Root finished the match with a four, one of only two in his three-hour stay.

Jamie Smith, who had hit his maiden Test century in the first innings, decided to break the tie as the finish line approached, hitting a fine 39 to end the possibility of the match going into the fifth day.

England had already seen the ball slip out of the net earlier in the morning session, with Kamindu Mendis scoring a fine 113 and Dinesh Chandimal making 79, making life difficult for the attack, which had to do without the extreme pace of Mark Wood.

Wood was injured late on Friday night and was unable to play that day due to a thigh injury, which looks set to jeopardise his chances of playing at Lord’s next week.

England, already without the inspirational qualities of regular captain Ben Stokes, lacked the pace that Wood provides but eventually got to grips with the situation when they ended the 117-run stand for the seventh wicket.

They took the last four wickets in 26 balls, two of which were for Matthew Potts and one each for Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes.

Sri Lanka’s lead was far greater than England had expected as the tourists went on with a lead of just 82 runs and four wickets in hand. The match, which had started quietly at times, suddenly seemed to be hanging by a thread as England’s top order collapsed.

Root played the role of BOB to ensure England made no mistake, carefully guiding his team to the finish line and keeping alive the chance of following up their 3-0 win over West Indies with an identical final score against Sri Lanka.

England had hoped to play down Wood’s absence but failed to create a single concrete chance as Kamindu and Chandimal added 87 in the morning session. The latter, who was out injured and required x-rays after being hit on the hand by Wood at 90mph on day three, was undoubtedly happier than anyone to see the Durham pacey player sidelined.

Kamindu and Chandimal combined for 117 wickets, the best score of the match, but when England finally responded it was decisive, with all four wickets falling and only 19 more added.

Gus Atkinson drew a rare error from Kamindu, who guided a drive to slip and the tail quickly fell into line. Potts took two to partly salvage a mediocre Test comeback and Woakes took his sixth of the match.

England began their innings with some famous displays of bravado, not least when Dan Lawrence leapt onto the track and bowled Prabath Jayasuriya for six in his first over.

But they were soon warned when Ben Duckett got behind the ball and pushed Asitha Fernando and Pope, completing a memorable match with his bat when he reverse swept with his toe-end and slipped.

By the time Lawrence was taken off LBW by Milan Rathnayake, Sri Lanka were already well into the match, with England on 70 for 3.

Both Root and Brook were in fear and if either had gone for tea the alarm bells would have been ringing. Root was saved from lbw by a sliver of bat that appeared on UltraEdge and Brook was only a yard away from picking out square-leg on the sweep.

But between them they shared an unattractive shift worth 49 in 119 balls. When Brook played a return catch back to Jayasuriya, there was still 86 to be had and the opportunity for another twist in the tale.

Smith’s fearlessness was key to keeping Sri Lanka in check. The 24-year-old impressed again as he smashed four fours and a six in a brutal 39. He was bowled brilliantly by Asitha but by then the job was done and Root was able to round things off.

With five to go he tried to get on with a quick reverse ramp over the slips but his timing was off, but he survived and took England to the finish.