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

Every Dom has his day, and two of them did in Galle. Dom Bess took four prime wickets, and Dom Sibley stayed to knock off the target of 164, after scoring six runs in his three previous Test innings – “a bit of a stinker” as he said – in Sri Lanka.

Sibley’s unbeaten 56 therefore made another example of how England under Chris Silverwood’s coaching furnish players with the caring environment in which they can grow, especially if they pick the brains of the experts on offer.

During the two-Test series Sibley transformed himself from a French cricketer, bringing his bat across the line and stabbing at the ball, to a far more polished performer who hung on at the mini-crisis point of 89 for four wickets and, by holding up his end, allowed Jos Buttler to finish off Sri Lanka with finesse.

Jacques Kallis, the batting consultant only contracted for the Sri Lankan leg of England’s tour, has thus made a powerful case for a full-time appointment. Nothing too radical by Kallis, more a return to basic principles and smoothing of rough edges, and there was Sibley seeing England home to a 2-0 victory and booking his place for at least the first couple of Tests in India

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It has to be said though that England, and especially Sibley, were hugely helped by the worst conceivable Test captaincy. Joe Root now has the marvellous record of having won all five of his Tests in charge in Asia, and Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal has been his ally – instead of adversary – every time.

Sibley’s stance, set-up and modus operandi are based on the leg-side push – and with every run precious, what did Chandimal do but post one fielder on the legside in front of square-leg? Bring together all the world’s cricket data analysts, pick their brains, and it would be impossible to come up with field-placings more helpful – not inimical – to Sibley.

And Chandimal did exactly the same the last time England toured and won 3-0. He would instantly relieve any pressure on the batsman by posting a long-on, not a mid-on. These runs were donations. If he runs a website, it must be for singles, for free.

Sibley’s finest quality is his equability of temperament, in the tradition of England opening batsmen. He is ready to don a hair shirt, which is what an ordinary shirt feels like in Sri Lanka, and occupy the crease. Chandimal made his first 20 balls as easy, not as difficult, as possible, and thereafter Sibley enjoyed the novel thrill for him of accumulating runs in Asia, even a few on the off-side.

As Rory Burns was an accomplished player of spin on England’s last tour of Sri Lanka, he can be expected to return to opening in India in the four-Test series after the birth of his first child; Burns adds to England’s fielding too, as will another arrival in Ben Stokes, and it sorely needs to be zapped up. As Jonny Bairstow has gone home after presenting an attractive but not conclusive case, England’s top order in Chennai looks like being Burns and Sibley, followed by Crawley at three.

Three times Sibley survived LBW appeals when the ball was predicted to hit his stumps, but each one was rejected on the grounds of “umpire’s call.” He will be lucky in India too in that their left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, more waspishly accurate than Sri Lanka’s Lasith Embuldeniya, is not in their squad for the first two Tests after dislocating his left thumb in Australia. But then India have vastly better pace bowlers than Sri Lanka, who effectively played the second Test with ten men, as their second seamer was superfluous.

In all, it was a valuable warm-up for England, even though their opponents would probably not beat India 2nd XI or, if Chandimal were captain, their 3rd XI. Equalling the England record of five consecutive Test wins abroad, set in 1913/4, was an exceptional feat for a side that had such a brief warm-up and lost both tosses.