Joe Root described his first Test century in 13 months as a case of turning words into deeds and revealed that self-defeating thoughts about his conversion rate were partly to blame for the three-figures drought. Root had been stressing the need for his players to be ruthless with the bat at the start of a defining 12-month period but also knew the orders would struggle to cut through unless he himself could break a run of 15 innings without three figures on the board. Speaking after the close on day two in Galle, with an unbeaten 168 to his name, the newly-turned 30-year-old cut a relieved figure and now hopes his innings of immaculate footwork against Sri Lanka’s spinners is the springboard for a golden run. Root said: “I’m extremely pleased. I did a lot of talking ahead of this year and I thought it was really important to go out there and do it myself. It felt like a long time coming and I’ve got to build on this, really make it count. “I felt I got in a really good mindset throughout this game so far. I’ll try and take that forward into the rest of this winter tour and beyond. “I think the previous couple of hundreds I have got, even though they’re a while ago, have come at the end of a series. So to get one at the start of a very long winter is quite exciting and hopefully I can take that forward into the rest of the games.” This was Root’s 18th century from 98 Test caps but with 49 fifties currently sitting alongside that number, the right-hander knows a player of his obvious calibre has left a good few more out in the middle. Asked if this issue weighed on his mind as he approached the milestone, Root replied: “I tried to get away from it. For the last year, two years, I’ve over-thought it massively. I made too big a deal of it in my own mind. I hyped it up and it’s been to my detriment. “I’ve always been desperate to try and convert those fifties into big scores. But generally when I get to a hundred I make it really count.” As well as fulsome praise for Dan Lawrence’s 73 on debut – “he showed exactly why he deserved his opportunity” – Root addressed the latest news of a Covid-19 outbreak after two members of staff at the team hotel tested positive for the virus. Moeen Ali’s tour has already been wrecked by a mild case of the virus and the lengthy isolation that has followed. But despite the previous issues in South Africa before Christmas, where the bubble failed and England pulled out of the one-day series citing widespread anxiety, Root’s men appear to be at ease with their current situation. The captain added: “Our Covid-19 compliance officer Phil Davies has done a brilliant job of making us safe. That’s what he’s here to do, all the lads feel very safe in everything. “Hopefully that continues throughout the trip.”