England dominate Sri Lanka to start opening day of first Test in style under new captain Ollie Pope
Published 21/08/2024 at 20:08 GMT+1
Sri Lanka showed grit to battle back from a horror start on the first day of the first Test against England at Old Trafford, but the home side has the upper hand heading into day two. England made a blistering start with the ball, with Sri Lanka slumping to 6-3 early. But superb innings from Dhananjaya de Silva and debutant Milan Rathnayake kept the visitors afloat.
Important for Pope 'not to try and be Ben Stokes' - Lawrence
Video credit: TNT Sports
England made a strong start on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka, bowling out the tourists for 236 in dreary conditions at Old Trafford.
But England, led by stand-in captain Ollie Pope for the injured Ben Stokes, will rue some missed opportunities after reducing Sri Lanka to 6-3 early on.
In his first act as Test skipper, Pope lost the toss and was sent to bowl first by Dhananjaya de Silva, which quickly proved to be a mistake by the Sri Lankan captain as his side got off to a disastrous start.
Dimuth Karunaratne was the first to go in the sixth over, edging a sharp bouncer from Gus Atkinson to Jamie Smith. Nishan Madushka was the next to succumb to the English attack as Sri Lanka soon slumped to 113-7 not long after lunch.
But the visitors showed grit to battle back to 236, De Silva leading the way with 74 runs before getting caught at leg slip.
Debutant seam bowler Milan Rathnayake added a brilliant 72, the highest score ever by a No. 9 on their Test debut, to help Sri Lanka recover before Vishwa Fernando was run out to end their innings.
When England came out to bat, poor light meant Sri Lanka were not able to use their pace attack, ultimately leading to umpires calling the day early with the home side on 22-0 after four overs.
Chris Woakes and Shoaib Bashir were the pick of the bunch of the English bowlers, with both taking three wickets each.
Speaking to Sky Sports after what was still a "good day" for England, Woakes was happy with his side's efforts, but hoped to have bowled Sri Lanka out sooner.
"I think it’s a good day," Woakes explained. "When you bowl on day one on a Test surface like that you'd be really happy. It would be nice to have bowled them out earlier.
"We wanted to stay out there and Bashir was doing a great job. Who knows what the conditions will be like tomorrow. We felt we could bowl them out and thankfully we did in the end.
"The first 25 overs, it felt as though there was a bit in it. Bashir kept it low. Once the ball got softer it looked a lot easier to bat on and they started to form partnerships. It definitely felt like a new-ball pitch.”
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