England got off to a shaky start to their innings with openers Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley falling early to spinner Lasith Embuldeniya. However, Root and Bairstow, who is playing his first Test since December 2019, then consolidated the innings, scoring 110 runs between them in just 194 balls before stumps. As the umpire knocked off the bails to mark the end of the day's play, Root was on 66 in 115 balls while Bairstow was on 47 off 91 balls.
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 135 all out (Dinesh Chandimal 28, Angelo Mathews 27; Dom Bess 5/30) vs England 127/2 (Joe Root 66 not out, Jonny Bairstow 47 not out; Lasith Embuldeniya 2/55). England trail by eight runs
