First Test, Emirates Old Trafford (day one of five)

Sri Lanka 236: Dhananjaya 74, Rathnayake 72; Woakes 3-32, Bashir 3-55

England 22-0: Duckett 13*

England are 214 runs behind

Scorecard

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

Pope’s first act standing in for the injured Ben Stokes was to lose the toss. Pope indicated he wanted to field first anyway and his instincts were proved correct as Sri Lanka immediately slumped to 6-3.

Mark Wood produced a snorter to remove Kusal Mendis, then Shoaib Bashir a scuttler to pin Dinesh Chandimal, a two-paced pitch with some uneven bounce playing a part in Sri Lanka’s lurch to 113-7.

It was captain Dhananjaya de Silva who showed the grit and application to keep the tourists respectable. He added 63 for the eighth wicket with Milan Rathnayake, the seam bowler playing his first Test.

Even after Dhananjaya was caught at leg slip off Bashir for 74, Rathnayake continued to 72, the highest score ever made by a number nine on Test debut.

When Vishwa Fernando was run out to end the Sri Lanka innings, the light was so poor that England were unable to bowl their pacemen.

That meant Sri Lanka had to open the bowling with spin, not necessarily a disadvantage on a surface already turning.

In four overs, Ben Duckett and the recalled Dan Lawrence moved to 22-0. Sri Lanka wanted to call on pace, so the umpires intervened over the light, leaving 12 overs unbowled.

On the day Pope became the 82nd man to lead England in Test cricket, there were periods when captaincy seemed straightforward. England enjoyed help from some woeful Sri Lanka batting and the occasionally unpredictable surface.

Some of the home players were emotional during pre-play tributes to Graham Thorpe, the former England batter and coach who died earlier this month at the age of 55.

The action that followed was initially frantic – Sri Lanka lost their first three wickets inside seven overs – but became more attritional when the tourists dug in. As the morning sunshine gave way to strong winds and grey clouds, it was as tough to be a spectator as a visiting batter.

Rathnayake was an unlikely candidate to test Pope’s tactical acumen, first in the stand with De Silva, then battling on after the loss of the Sri Lanka captain.

Overall, Pope led in similar fashion to Stokes. Catchers were regularly employed, often in creative places, and England were quick to go to a short-ball plan. If anything, Pope’s only bum notes were to ask the recalled Matthew Potts to bowl bouncers, not the Durham man’s strength, and the over-enthusiastic burning of two reviews on poor caught-behind appeals.

In the gloom, Pope was prevented from bowling Wood and Rathnayake got after the spin of Bashir and Joe Root. In a Stokes-like move, Pope kept the field in and was rewarded when Rathnayake finally miscued to mid-on.