England v Sri Lanka Second Test Player Tips: Root's rubbish returns opens way for Brook

• Root's win rate disappearing

• Time for Brook to deliver

• Mathews has strong chance for runs

• Read the second Test match preview HERE

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England v Sri Lanka
Thursday 29 August, 11:00
TV: live on Sky Sports

Top England first-innings bat

Has there ever been a Test match player so resolute, so classy and so reliable as Joe Root who has been so utterly hopeless at winning his backers - decreasing in number at rapid rate - the top England first-innings bat market?

Root now has an astoundingly poor return of just 8.7% in the last two years. Or to put it in more stark terms, two wins in 23. It is particularly puzzling when you look at his numbers over the study period. The Yorkshireman has an average of 51 in first-innings with four half-centuries and three tons. Lies, damned lies and...

In the first Test of the summer against West Indies at Lord's Root made 68. And lost to Jamie Smith. At Old Trafford in game one against Sri Lanka, Root was on course for a big one at 42, was caught at the wicket and lost to ... Jamie Smith.

Root, as these historic columns will testify, has not been a worrisome wager recently. This has been going on for year after year. Of course Root is a fine player and comfortably in the top five of greatest England batters ever. Yet it is important to note the difference between greatness and a great waste of money. Root would have cost you £160 to £10-level stakes across those 23.

The temptation is to reckon that Root is due a change of luck or that a player as good as him just can't keep getting beat. But there is a science behind his failures. In this new era of gung-ho attacking intent by England batters, Root just doesn't score quickly enough so he is at a major disadvantage. He needs to bat for longer than anyone else. In a highly-competitive market Root scores slower than each of the named top six for this second Test in first digs in the last two years.

Harry Brook, who is the second-fastest marginally behind Ben Duckett, is a man who is overdue and does fit the win-rate criteria for a bet at the same price as Root. Like his team-mate he has disappointed on this market this summer and patience is beginning to wear thin but the price has to be considered value in the cold light of day.

On win rate Ollie Pope will see support at 5/16.00. And that is absolutely fine. We will be siding with Brook because he gives up the bigger edge. There may also be doubts about Pope's mindset as skipper and after he came under fire for poor shot selection, potentially letting Sri Lanka back into the game in the chase in Manchester.

Top Sri Lanka first-innings bat

Dhananjaya de Silva got us a winner on this market last week. It was not plain sailing, however, as a late surge from 100/1101.00 chance Milan Rathanayake looked like paying off. But Rahanayake holed out with the win at his mercy.

So who to turn to now? Well, the good news is that there is a strong option despite fine form from a clutch of tourists in Manchester. Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal revisited form in these conditions with second-innings runs. And Kamindu Mendis, with an excellentcentury, marked him down as a class act.

It could be time for a bet on Mathews at 9/25.50. It gives us an edge on win rate and we know that he has good experience in England. He looks to be a better option than Kusal Mendis, a win-rate rival, at 11/26.50 because of one fifty in eight innings in England.