England have been propelled into a commanding position in the first Test by two of their more unlikely heroes. There was Ben Foakes on the first day, who was not originally selected for the tour, and Keaton Jennings on the third, whom many thought should not have been selected.

There was no great enthusiasm for his inclusion in this column. Now that he has hit his second Test century an acknowledgment that they got it right might be appropriate. Consider it done (though a cagier correspondent would have waited a few more paragraphs).

At the very least Jennings must now be considered an Asian specialist, adept against spin in his idiosyncratic way. None of the great batsmen reverse sweep as frequently, for example, but the runs are in the book and, if he can come to terms with English conditions where the seamers tend to prevail, a long Test career beckons after all. In his 18 innings at home Jennings’ average is 17.7; in Asia after six innings that rockets to 71.8.

Jennings’ century was the glue that allowed England to build a mammoth lead of 461 on a surface that seems far more reluctant to deteriorate than is usually the case in Galle. They sped along so rapidly in the final session Joe Root declared, leaving Sri Lanka with seven overs to bat. In fading light against five different bowlers their openers negotiated them safely while scoring 15 runs.

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The only hiccups for England came in the first hour, when they lost three wickets quickly. Rory Burns settled well only to be run out for the second time in Sri Lanka. On this occasion he only had himself to blame. He had been punching the ball to mid-on, where Rangana Herath was stationed, and sensibly taking singles. Presumably he had noticed Dimuth Karunaratne had been placed there when he set off again but perhaps he had not calculated Karunaratne is considerably more fleet-footed than Herath and his throw hit the stumps.

Out came Moeen Ali on a king pair. This was avoided but that was the sum total of Moeen’s achievements with the bat. On three a lofted drive was attempted and miscued and he was caught at mid-on, where Herath had been reinstated. In between Tests we will continue to debate England’s best option at No 3. Root’s dismissal was more respectable. The England captain pushed forward to Herath and the ball turned and brushed his outside edge.

England soon recovered from their stutter as Ben Stokes bedded in watchfully. He trusts his defence more than Moeen. Jennings had a little slice of fortune on 60 when he would have been out if Sri Lanka had been minded to review an lbw shout when Dhananjaya de Silva was bowling. Both batsmen were assisted by the fact the ball was getting older and softer – that makes a significant difference on this surface, for the spin bowlers as well as the quicks – and the inflexibility of the Sri Lanka field settings.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England captain Joe Root is dismissed. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Incredibly there were often identical fields for Jennings and Stokes, and they bat rather differently. The trend in this match is have to deep-set fields for the spinners, with as many as four men on the rope in order to prevent a flurry of boundaries.

This can work when the ball is turning sharply and England adopted a similar plan in Sri Lanka’s first innings. But here this unbending approach allowed Jennings and Stokes to tap the ball into the gaps without risk in order to pick up singles. This suited Jennings in particular. Out of his 100 there were 59 singles. This is no criticism of the batsman but it highlights the limitations of the field placements.

Jennings is a patient man – he flirts with that reverse sweep, which he plays well – otherwise he is content to pick up those singles and dispatch the odd bad ball. Stokes accelerated in mid-afternoon; it took him 66 balls to reach 25 and only another 16 to post his 50. Suddenly he cracked three sixes off the spinners and was threatening further mayhem when he was bowled by a fine delivery from Dilruwan Perera.

Once again Jos Buttler looked in princely form without producing a major innings. He was there to congratulate Jennings on reaching his century with another single (inevitably) but soon after, against the second new ball, he was brilliantly caught at silly point by Kaushal Silva off Herath.

But by now Sri Lanka were wilting fast and the pitch was taking a prolonged nap. Foakes soon announced himself with two consecutive sixes off Akila Dananjaya, who has endured a nightmarish Test so far. Even Jennings opened his shoulders and was within a couple of feet hitting his first six in Test cricket.

The field was spread far and wide, with the two close catchers about 30 yards from the bat and Foakes, selflessly – and naively perhaps – was caught by one of seven boundary fielders for 37. Jennings remained unbeaten on 146. He will have to have another game.