England vs Sri Lanka day two: Jonny Bairstow stars on his home ground before Sri Lanka bowled for 91

Sri Lanka: 91 all out and 1-0; England: 298 all out

Jonny Bairstow celebrates hitting a century against Sri Lanka (Getty)

On a day of high emotion, Headingley belonged to Jonny Bairstow despite the subsequent dominance of England’s bowlers that forced Sri Lanka to follow on in this first Test.

Bairstow’s brilliant 140, his second Test century and first on home soil, helped Alastair Cook’s side post what looks a match-winning first-innings total of 298 after the tourists limped to the close of day two here on one without loss in their second innings after they were bundled out for just 91.

James Anderson, with figures of 5 for 16, was the star of the evening session. Bairstow, though, was inevitably in the thick of the action as he took five catches behind the stumps.

Coming as it did on his home ground in Leeds, Bairstow’s hundred was always going to be special. However, this was not only an innings of rare quality that underlined the Yorkshireman’s burgeoning emergence as a Test batsman but one loaded with emotion too.

When he finally reached three figures shortly before lunch, the beneficiary of two overthrows, Bairstow punched the air, took his helmet off and looked to the heavens in memory of his late father David, also a Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper who committed suicide in 1998 when Jonny was just eight.

For the player and his watching family, mum Janet and sister Becky, this was far more than just a Test-match hundred.

His maiden century at this level, the 150 he made against South Africa in Cape Town in January, has infused Bairstow with a new-found confidence. England were 83 for 5 when Bairstow walked to the crease on day one. His contribution from that point on represented more than half of England’s subsequent runs.

Sri Lanka’s batting was always going to be brittle following the retirements of modern greats Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. However, they will be worried how easily they rolled over here inside 37 overs. The damage, inevitably, was done by Anderson and Stuart Broad, who took three wickets between them in nine balls – all catches behind fittingly taken by Bairstow - to reduce the tourists to 12 for 3 in the sixth over of their reply.

In the end the new-ball pair shared nine wickets as Sri Lanka imploded. The first was taken by Broad, the world’s No1-ranked Test bowler, when he located the outside edge of Dimuth Karunaratne. Kaushal Silva then gloved Anderson behind in the next over before Broad struck again, this time finding Kusal Mendis’ edge.

By tea Sri Lanka had advanced to 43 for 3 but they were four down when Ben Stokes dismissed Dinesh Chandimal, who edged the first ball of the evening session to third slip. The umpires took the players off for 12 minutes due to bad light three balls later. But once play resumed there was no let up from Anderson as he struck in successive deliveries – spanning two overs - to find himself on a hat-trick. Angelo Mathews was wrongly given out lbw when the ball pitched outside the line but Sri Lanka’s captain failed to review the decision.

That took Anderson to 435 Test wickets and above India’s Kapil Dev into sixth on the all-time list.

Dasun Shanaka, edging into the gloves of Bairstow without scoring, Rangana Herath, caught by Stokes at fourth slip, both then fell as Anderson made it three wickets in as many overs.

Now rocking on 83 for 7, Sri Lanka needed 16 runs to avoid the follow on.

And they didn’t get there as Chameera and Lahuru Thirmimanne fell to Broad before Anderson claimed his fifth wicket - and Bairstow his fifth catch - to rout Sri Lanka eight runs shy of the follow-on target of 99.

By the time bad light eventually brought an end to the day Sri Lanka had survived two balls without sustaining any further damage. They have a long way to go though to dig themselves out of this hole.

Earlier, England had built on their overnight 171 for 5 as Bairstow and Alex Hales extended their sixth-wicket stand to 141.

Hales, though, holed out on 86 out to spinner Rangana Herath to spark a collapse that saw the hosts slip from 224 for 5 to 233 for 8. Yet Bairstow, eventually caught at mid-on off Chameera, shared a 56-run stand with Steve Finn either side of lunch to edge England close to 300.