The wait is over

The last time England won a test overseas, they were in Bangladesh. It was a thriller. Neither side had managed to finish the job before darkness had fallen the night before, so there I was, putting on the match in the early hours of the morning, waiting for those last couple of wickets or those last few runs, waiting for a resolution before going back to sleep. I didn't think I'd be waiting for two years for their next win away from home. It didn't really occur to me. They'd win a match somewhere, of course they would.

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They were playing Bangladesh, a team they'd never lost to, so I thought there was a good chance the win would come in that next game. Instead they conspired to lose ten wickets in a session, crashing from 100/0 to 164 all out. For Bangladesh, it was a famous and well earned win, but for England it felt like a low point. They headed to India for a five match series. What happened next wasn't really a surprise. I might not have thought I'd be waiting two years for England to win a test overseas, but then again, I didn't think I'd see them win one on that tour.

England had a new captain, and, even allowing for a couple of stumbles, won both series during the home summer. And off they went to defend the Ashes. Australia were the favourites, with home advantage, Steve Smith, and one of the best bowling attacks in the world, but England would get a win at some point over the five matches, right? And there were moments that brought us hope too, some good individual performances, but nothing to carry them through a whole match. They had some good times, but most of the time Steve Smith was batting. By the end of the tour, it was 4-0. The solace was that, well at least it wasn't as bad as the last time they went to Australia...

Then it was New Zealand, and series with New Zealand are always well-matched, fun, and competitive, so surely here they'd win a match - maybe even a series if things went well? That hope went away after 20 overs when England were all out for 58. Double figures. Of all the lows, and by this point, there had been many, this had to be the lowest. The match was lost after one session, and for all their efforts in the second test, England couldn't get over the line. For England, the stats were damning. A winter had passed and they hadn't once taken all twenty wickets in a test. They'd only managed it once in five tests in India, too. For me, a supporter, it was frustration taken over by a resigned acceptance that really, England just weren't very good at test cricket.

Away wins might be like gold dust at the moment, but England had been particularly bad. Next up, it was a trip to Sri Lanka, a hard place for any team to tour, let alone one famously bad at playing spin bowling. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I checked the score when I woke up on Tuesday morning. At five down for just a fraction over 100, I wasn't all that surprised. Same old England, right? Going on the attack before getting themselves in, losing early wickets, forgetting they have five days to play the match? Yet things got better. Ben Foakes, a wicketkeeper on his debut, showed the patience those before him had lacked, making a hundred as the lower order proved England's strength again. Anderson and Curran removed the openers before England's triple spin attack got to work, sharing eight wickets between them, four of those for Moeen Ali. There was also a stumping for Foakes on his debut, in the action again.

Then Jennings, a man under so much scrutiny after his lack of runs in English summers, made a well deserved century. The runs have been sparse since that century on debut, and chances are he might not have made the cut if England weren't in Asia, but he proved again his ability to play spin. England had put themselves in a strong position, created their chance, and capitalised upon it. There had been good points in the last two years, but never lasting more than a handful of sessions. But now England were in the driving seat, that first session only an aberration, setting Sri Lanka a mammoth 462 runs to chase down with two days left.

The spinners did their job again - another four for Moeen Ali, one for Rashid, three for Leach in a successful return to the team. All twenty wickets were taken, and a test overseas, in Asia, was won. Their first win ever at the stadium in Galle. After two years and fourteen matches, the wait was over. The drought had ended.