A perfect day for England, gifted by Sri Lanka

When the camera panned to Mickey Arthur, Sri Lanka's coach sitting on the team balcony, shortly after Lasith Embuldeniya had been run out backing up, the South African had pulled his cap over his face. He just couldn't watch any more. It was probably all he could do to stop himself screaming.

In contrast, England were cock-a-hoop. Despite minimal preparation and having lost the toss, they were on their way to bundling Sri Lanka out for 135, the lowest first innings total ever at Galle. Before this match, Joe Root said England had to address their slow starts - they have won just one opening Test in their last five series - by taking the initiative on the first day. By the close, England were just eight runs behind with eight wickets remaining, and things were about as good as Root would have dared hope for.

He just might not have expected things to have come so easy in the field. England's bowlers were generally disciplined. Root set some smart fields. The odd delivery disturbed the pitch and deviated sharply. But really, there is no way Sri Lanka should have ever been hustled out in the manner they were. Their downfall was mostly their own doing. It was a crazy innings of crazy batting. Decision making wasn't just poor, on occasion it was unfathomable.

As an example, the tourists' plan to opener Lahiru Thirimanne was obvious. Stuart Broad came round the wicket, angling the ball into the left-hander, with a leg gully in place. It was clear how they were trying to get Thirimanne out. The batsman fell into the trap, clipping the ball straight to the fielder. It was a soft dismissal from a Test match opener on the first morning of a game. Yet he was not alone in making things easy for England.

After losing two early wickets, Kusal Perera decided to reverse-sweep Dom Bess' second delivery, only to plop it to slip. Two balls after Angelo Mathews was dismissed after Lunch, Dinesh Chandimal, the captain, hit Jack Leach limply to cover. Later, Bess himself looked embarrassed when Niroshan Dickwella hit a long-hop straight to backward point. The final wicket was a microcosm of the innings. Wanindu Hasaranga played a horrible reverse sweep and was bowled, failing to cover any of his stumps. He seemed to lose his bearings. On the balcony, Arthur looked like he was losing his marbles.

In truth, Sri Lanka had some bad luck along the way. Dasun Shanaka was caught after a sweetly struck sweep shot hit Jonny Bairstow at short-leg and looped up to Jos Buttler behind the stumps. Embuldeniya's run out was unfortunate too. Like England, their preparation has been less than ideal too, having arrived home from South Africa only a few days ago and with precious little first-class cricket behind them since last March. To compound matters, their captain Dimuth Karunaratne was ruled out with a fractured thumb on the morning of the game.

Even so, it was a desperate innings from Sri Lanka. Things could have been worse too. England dropped two relatively straightforward catches and had a run out incorrectly not given. Arthur's frustration was both palpable and understandable. "You ask me who should take the blame? Every single batter should take the blame," said Grant Flower, Sri Lanka's batting coach. "One of our guys was unlucky, Shanaka caught off Jonny Bairstow's ankle, but the rest got themselves out. I'm at a loss for words, I've never seen us bat that badly."

Other than those dropped catches by Leach and Dan Lawrence, and a poor shot by Zak Crawley when they batted, England's control and discipline stood in stark contrast to Sri Lanka's recklessness and dysfunction. That the tourists were able to play in such a manner despite having just one day of match practise before this Test spoke volumes for the quality and precision of the discussions the squad had in preparation for this game, which had been alluded to throughout the build-up.

Jacques Kallis, England's batting consultant, said he had spent a lot of time discussing gameplans with different batsmen. Root said the squad had talked about how to combat the twin threats of spin and close catchers and that preparing mentally for the challenge ahead was crucial. Buttler agreed, stating that being mentally switched on was something in England's control while the bowling group were seen going through their plans on the outfield before play.

One of the themes of Chris Silverwood's time as head coach has been that England have had a clear template of how they want to play Test cricket. It was evident today, the manifestation of all of those discussions the group have had over the past two weeks since they arrived in Sri Lanka. England may still have their flaws as a Test team but at least they know what they are trying to do.

Stuart Broad, who took as many wickets in this innings, three, as he has on three previous tours of Sri Lanka, set the tone for England's day with a fine spell of accurate, canny fast-bowling. Leach, playing his first Test for more than a year, out-bowled Bess, finding more consistency of length and line, targeting the stumps and outside edge. It was a fine return to the top level for the left-arm spinner. Sam Curran and Mark Wood, who cranked up the pace, were consistent and disciplined too.

It was Bess who took the majority of the rewards however, although in truth, his second five-wicket haul in Tests flattered him. He struggled to find the searching, nagging length that poses the most questions for batsmen in the subcontinent. He was too short at times, overpitched at others, with a sprinkling of good deliveries thrown in the mix too. And yet, such was Sri Lanka's profligacy, Bess ended up with a hatful. While it is always unwise to look a gift horse in the mouth, he will know deep down, that he needs to bowl better.

Despite losing two early wickets, Root and Jonny Bairstow displayed the type of application that was sorely missing when Sri Lanka batted. They placed a premium on defence and reduced risk early in their innings, the essence of Test match batting in these conditions. There were no wild reverse sweeps, no offers of catching practice to men in the ring, no wickets gifted to poor deliveries. Bairstow, so destructive and aggressive against the white-ball, was particularly watchful, playing late and with soft hands. As the day wore on, both players attacked more, with the sweep shot a particular favourite.

The two Yorkshiremen will hope to add a few more yet to their 110 run partnership as they look to reinforce England's dominant position on day two. That is generally the best day for batting in Galle and both Root, who failed to score a hundred in 2020, and Bairstow, back in the Test team for the first time in more than a year, will want to go big.

There remains a long way to go in this game, of course. But the visitors have certainly got the start to this series they wanted. On TV, Broad described it as a nine out of ten day. Arguably, it was even better than that for England. And in many ways, Sri Lanka rather gifted it to them.