Sri Lanka fight back as Pope enjoys fine start as captain

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 at Old Trafford.

- RORY DOLLARD

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 an 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 this morning when England will be eyeing a sizeable lead.

“For his first day on the job, as an inexperienced captain, I thought he did a great job,” said Chris Woakes. “He probably found himself having to switch on a bit more than he would normally. As captain you have to be on the ball all the time, constantly thinking about fields, bowling changes, things like that.

”It’s talking and communicating with your bowlers, which is something he doesn’t have to do usually, so I thought he did a great job with us as bowlers.