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Other SportsEngland make strong start to life under Pope as Sri Lanka bowled...

England make strong start to life under Pope as Sri Lanka bowled out for 236 on first day

England bowled out Sri Lanka for 236 as they made a strong start to life under Ollie Pope’s temporary captaincy on the first day of the first Test at Old Trafford.

Chris Woakes and Shoaib Bashir took three wickets apiece before a late fightback from Sri Lanka’s lower order saw them reach 236.

Woakes (3-32), Bashir (3-55), and Gus Atkinson (2-48) made key breakthroughs early on as Sri Lanka collapsed to 92-6 after choosing to bat.

The visitors were unable to cope with the quality in England’s attack, led by Pope who continued the philosophy championed by the injured Stokes.

Youth and experienced combined late on to salvage Sri Lanka’s tally, with captain Dhananjaya de Silva hitting 76 runs from 84 deliveries.

Meanwhile, the youhtful Milan Rathnayake (72) enjoyed an eye-catching debut to help bring his side back into the contest.

England faced spin when they got their innings underway for just four overs before bad light forced an end to proceedings, closing the day on 22-0 and in a comfortable position.

Batter Woakes told Sky Sports: “I think it’s a good day. When you bowl on day one on a Test surface like that, to be batting at the end of the day I think you’re really happy.

“It would have been nice to bowl them out earlier than what they got, but with the bad light we couldn’t bring our quick guys on to mop up the tail.

“We wanted to stay out there and feel we could bowl them out.

“Thankfully we did in the end. It could have been for 30 less than they got, but still really happy.”

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