Ollie Pope’s first day as England captain started with a flurry of Sri Lankan wickets before lower-order resistance brought the tourists back into the contest on day one of the first Test.
Pope, who became England’s 82nd men’s skipper in place of the injured Ben Stokes, lost the toss but looked to have the golden touch as England reduced their opponents to a miserable score of six for three in the opening half-hour.
They were still well short of a competitive total when they slumped to 92 for six shortly after lunch but Pope’s hopes of a frictionless outing were met with defiance from opposite number Dhananjaya De Silva (74) and debutant Milan Rathnayake (72).
Bad light meant Pope had to utilise spin at both ends as Sri Lanka eventually subsided for 236, far from an intimidating total but one they would have happily taken during their early struggles.
With Stokes watching on from the balcony, Pope would have been particularly frustrated by Rathnayake, who came in at number nine and made the highest score of his first-class career.
England made 22 without loss from four overs before stumps were called, with Dan Lawrence surviving an awkward late passage on his first outing in more than two years. He and Ben Duckett will now get the chance to resume on Thursday, when England will be eyeing a sizeable lead.
The day started with an emotional tribute to the late Graham Thorpe. Joe Root appeared close to tears as players and fans remembered the classy left-hander with a minute’s applause.
There was also an honour for James Anderson at his home ground, with the recently retired record wicket-taker ringing the five-minute bell before play. Anderson would surely have loved the chance to work over a brittle batting lineup on his own patch but he could hardly have done much better than Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes.
Atkinson got things going, finding kick and carry with a short ball to Dimuth Karunaratne. The experienced opener shaped to pull but was late on the shot and feathered a simple catch through to Jamie Smith.
With the new ball offering handy movement, Woakes snapped up a double wicket-maiden as he struck with the first and last deliveries of his fourth over. Nishan Madushka showed poor judgement as he wafted lazily at an outswinger and fed a regulation catch to Root at slip.
Seasoned campaigner Angelo Mathews came and went for a five-ball duck, thoroughly foxed by Woakes’ big inswinger. Mathews, a regular thorn in England’s side over the years, misread it entirely and offered no stroke as he was plumb lbw.
After losing three wickets for no runs in the space of 10 balls there were real concerns that an undercooked Sri Lanka, who last toured these shores eight years ago and lost their only warm-up to a youthful England Lions, would fold without a fight. Instead, there was a brief rally at Matthew Potts’ expense before the arrival of Mark Wood put England back on the front foot.
His first ball touched 95mph and left Dinesh Chandimal tumbling on his backside as he took evasive action and he soon had Kusal Mendis caught off the glove as he fended a short ball.
Sri Lanka’s misery was compounded by a slice of misfortune before lunch, Chandimal lbw to Shoaib Bashir after the spinner got one to skid through at ankle height.
De Silva’s willingness to fight carried Sri Lanka through an improved afternoon session. He hit eight fours and went after Bashir, who could have had him stumped on 65 had Smith taken it cleanly.
Kamindu Mendis became Woakes’ third victim when he was caught behind for 12 and Prabath Jayasuriya fell for 10 after an awkward innings that saw him rapped on the hand and caught off a no-ball.
When De Silva’s counter-attack concluded just before tea, turning Bashir to Lawrence at leg-slip, it looked like the end of the road. But Rathnayake had ideas of his own.
Despite averaging a modest 16 with the bat in domestic cricket he looked the part as he made a polished half-century. The umpires ruled that England could not use their pace attack under murky skies, despite Pope’s attempts to reintroduce Wood, and Rathnayake made the most of it by slugging a pair of sixes off spinners Bashir and Root.
After annoying England for 135 balls he finally disappeared, caught trying to hack Bashir over the top, before Vishwa Fernando was run out to close the innings.
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