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ENG v SL 2024, ENG vs SL 1st Test Match Report, August 21 – 25, 2024

Sri Lanka 80 for 5 (de Silva 28*, Kamindu 5*) vs England

Ollie Pope‘s temporary reign as England captain got off to a flying start on the first morning at Old Trafford, as Sri Lanka stumbled to 80 for 5 after opting to bat first in the opening Test of the series. A combination of poor shot selection and unplayable deliveries undermined their best intentions on a hard and dry surface that offered good carry to the quicks but also a freakish degree of uneven bounce, as Dinesh Chandimal discovered to his cost.

Choosing to bat first may have been the brave option for Sri Lanka, but even before the end of the first half-hour, it was being made to look distinctly foolish. After inching along to 6 for 0 in a misleadingly sedate first 33 balls, the innings was then wrecked by three wickets for no runs in the next ten.

The first blow was landed by Gus Atkinson, whose initial focus had been on a full length and a tight line, to limit Dimuth Karunaratne to a solitary scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries. Atkinson then bent his back on a sharp lifter from just back of a length, and Jamie Smith reached high behind the stumps to claw down a thin top-edge, as Karunaratne fluffed his first shot in anger, an expansive swish across the line.

Four balls later, Nishan Madushka’s early discipline also deserted him as Chris Woakes served up a juicy outswinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung on in the heel of his palms. And with the final ball of the same over, Woakes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgement from Angelo Mathews. The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the process as he offered no stroke to an inducker that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.

Kusal Mendis and Chandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kusal off Matthew Potts, whose wide angle into the stumps offered the chance to free the hands through the off-side.

But, after limping to drinks on 37 for 3, there was another challenge waiting for the second hour. Mark Wood tore into his opening spell with typical gusto, and struck with his seventh ball – a gruesomely quick lifter to Kusal that crashed into his left thumb and looped to Harry Brook at second slip. Much like the snorter that broke Kevin Sinclair’s wrist in the West Indies series, Kusal left the crease wringing his hand, and looking in urgent need of an ice-pack at the very least.

Dhananjaya de Silva joined Chandimal to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, their measured stand of 32 in seven overs was undone in cruel and unusual fashion. Shoaib Bashir entered the attack for an exploratory pre-lunch spell, and struck in his second over with an unplayable daisycutter, reminiscent of Nasser Hussain’s viral moment against Carl Hooper in Trinidad in 1998.

Chandimal was the luckless victim, nailed on the shin in line with off stump as he played back to a length delivery that scuttled more wickedly than you could even have expected on a fifth-day wicket, let alone before lunch on day one. He gambled on the review, hoping against hope that he’d been struck outside the line, but Bashir’s sheepish appeal and celebration could have told him everything he needed to know.

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