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.
🏏 A solid day @EMIRATESOT 🏟
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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) AUGUST 21, 2024
Meanwhile, the youhtful Milan Rathnayake (72) enjoyed an eye-catching debut to help bring his side back into the contest.
“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.”
