ENG vs SL | Resolute Lankan lower-order logjam leaves England frustrated on Day 1

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Sri Lanka fought back valiantly from a horrid position of 6/3 in Manchester to put up a competitive first innings total of 236. Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva led from the front with a counterattacking 74 before debutant Milan Ratnayake's half-century further piled up the woes for England.

Brief score: SL 236 [de Silva 74, Ratnayake 72; Woakes 3/32] lead ENG 22/0 [Duckett 13*, Lawrence 9*; Jayasuriya 0/8] by 214 runs at Stumps on Day 1

Dhananjaya de Silva won the coin flip against debut captain Ollie Pope at Old Trafford on Wednesday and opted to bat first. His openers got off to a timid start, managing just five runs in as many overs, before Dimuth Karunaratne lost patience and nicked the first real bumper of the game from Gus Atkinson. Nishan Madushka followed suit four deliveries later with a restless drive that travelled straight to first slip off the edge. Things went from bad to worse when the experienced Angelo Mathews offered no shot to a Chris Woakes inseamer and was trapped plumb for a duck, to leave the score reading a horrid 6/3. With the visitors thus severely under the pump, Kusal Mendis adopted a no-holds barred approach and flayed four boundaries in his 24-run cameo before Mark Wood ended the 34-run stand with a searing bouncer that hit the glove and looped to second slip. Nevertheless, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva composedly took over and seemed set to avoid any further losses in the first session, only for a daisy cutter from Shoaib Bashir to get rid of the former and push the score to 80/5 at Lunch.

The hosts got off to another good start in the second session as Woakes and Atkinson had Kamindu Mendis and Prabath Jayausirya caught behind for cheap resepctively. However, de Silva soon rediscovered his charactersitic flair which had been on display in the first session, and raced to a 55-ball half-century. He found great company in debutant Milan Ratnayake at the other end, the duo unafraid to take on the loose deliveries as the stand ticked past 50. It ultimately took a clever leg-slip ploy from Bashir to get rid of Dhananjaya for 74 right at the stroke of Tea, with the score reading 178/8.

Ratnayake now had the job of anchoring the tail and he carried it out with aplomb, bringing up a maiden Test half-century with a six over Bashir's head. Vishwa Fernando was utterly resolute at the other end, contributing just seven in the 50-run partnership, until Ratnayake holed out for 72. Fernando eventually ended up facing 62 deliveries and even then only succumbed to a run-out, to end the Sri Lankan innings on 236.

In response, England's refurbished opening duo of Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence managed to survive four overs of spin comfortably despite the dwindling light until play had to be called off, and head into Day 2 trailing by 214 runs with all wickets in hand.

Brief score: SL 236 [de Silva 74, Ratnayake 72; Woakes 3/32] lead ENG 22/0 [Duckett 13*, Lawrence 9*; Jayasuriya 0/8] by 214 runs at Stumps on Day 1

Dhananjaya de Silva won the coin flip against debut captain Ollie Pope at Old Trafford on Wednesday and opted to bat first. His openers got off to a timid start, managing just five runs in as many overs, before Dimuth Karunaratne lost patience and nicked the first real bumper of the game from Gus Atkinson. Nishan Madushka followed suit four deliveries later with a restless drive that travelled straight to first slip off the edge. Things went from bad to worse when the experienced Angelo Mathews offered no shot to a Chris Woakes inseamer and was trapped plumb for a duck, to leave the score reading a horrid 6/3. With the visitors thus severely under the pump, Kusal Mendis adopted a no-holds barred approach and flayed four boundaries in his 24-run cameo before Mark Wood ended the 34-run stand with a searing bouncer that hit the glove and looped to second slip. Nevertheless, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva composedly took over and seemed set to avoid any further losses in the first session, only for a daisy cutter from Shoaib Bashir to get rid of the former and push the score to 80/5 at Lunch.

The hosts got off to another good start in the second session as Woakes and Atkinson had Kamindu Mendis and Prabath Jayausirya caught behind for cheap resepctively. However, de Silva soon rediscovered his charactersitic flair which had been on display in the first session, and raced to a 55-ball half-century. He found great company in debutant Milan Ratnayake at the other end, the duo unafraid to take on the loose deliveries as the stand ticked past 50. It ultimately took a clever leg-slip ploy from Bashir to get rid of Dhananjaya for 74 right at the stroke of Tea, with the score reading 178/8.

Ratnayake now had the job of anchoring the tail and he carried it out with aplomb, bringing up a maiden Test half-century with a six over Bashir's head. Vishwa Fernando was utterly resolute at the other end, contributing just seven in the 50-run partnership, until Ratnayake holed out for 72. Fernando eventually ended up facing 62 deliveries and even then only succumbed to a run-out, to end the Sri Lankan innings on 236.

In response, England's refurbished opening duo of Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence managed to survive four overs of spin comfortably despite the dwindling light until play had to be called off, and head into Day 2 trailing by 214 runs with all wickets in hand.

Recovery

What a debut!

Stunning entry

In the second over

On fire

Good delivery

Lol

Mind game

Well played

Gone

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