Dhananjaya de Silva's 74 and Milan Rathnayake's debut 72 couldn't save Sri Lanka from a top-order collapse, bowled out for 236 on the first day of the Test at Emirates Old Trafford. After a disastrous start at 6 for 3, Sri Lanka's innings recovered somewhat, but England's bowlers, led by Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes, dominated. The day ended with England in a strong position, chasing a modest total.#cricket #TestMatch #SriLanka #England #sports
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00:00Then Andrea da Silva justified his decision to bat first with a gutsy 74 from 84 balls,
00:07while Milan Rathniac followed his captain's lead with a startlingly composed knock of
00:1172 from 135 balls, the highest by a debutant at No. 9 in Test history.
00:18Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, even those exceptional efforts couldn't atone for a dreadful top-order
00:23collapse that handed England control of the first Test by stumps on Day 1 at Emirates
00:28Old Trafford.
00:30By the time Vishwa Fernando was last man out, run out for 13 from 61 balls, Sri Lanka had
00:36been bowled out for 236 in gloomy half-light that had caused England to rely exclusively
00:41on spin bowling for the final hour.
00:45An early challenge for Ali Pope's tactical acumen on his first day as Ben Stokes'
00:50captaincy stand-in.
00:52And even though that total was seemingly below par on a hard and dry surface that Pope anticipated
00:57would stay true for the first half of the match, it was rich as compared to what had
01:01been anticipated after the first half-hour of the contest.
01:05Sri Lanka's innings had been in tatters at 6-for-3 after seven overs, with all three
01:10wickets falling in the space of 10 deliveries to Gus Atkinson and Chris Wokes.
01:16The first blow was landed by Atkinson, who had limited Dimitj Karunaratan to a solitary
01:21scoring stroke in his first 17 deliveries, only for the batter to fluff his first shot
01:26in anger, a swish across the line to a well-directed lifter.
01:31For balls later, Nishan Madhushka's early discipline deserted him as Wokes served up
01:35a juicy out-swinger that he could only scuff straight to Joe Root at first slip, who clung
01:40on in the heel of his palms.
01:43With the final ball of the same over, Wokes had his second courtesy of a ghastly misjudgment
01:48from Angelo Matthews.
01:51The hero of the 2014 series win was gone for a five-ball duck, burning a review in the
01:56process as he offered no stroke to an inducker that was shown to be hitting the top of middle.
02:02Kuzil and Shandimal showed some gumption in a limited counterattack, with the first five
02:07boundaries of the innings all coming in the space of 12 balls, four of them to Kuzil off
02:11Matthew Potts.
02:14After limping to drinks on 37-for-3, there was another challenge waiting for the second
02:19hour.
02:21Wood struck with his seventh ball a quick lifter to Kuzil that crashed into his left
02:25thumb and looped to Harry Brooke at second slip.
02:29Out came De Silva to shore up the listing innings, but with lunch approaching, his measured
02:34stand of 32 in seven overs with Shandimal was undone in cruel fashion.
02:40Shoaib Bashir struck in his second over with an unplayable daisy-cutter.
02:45Though Shandimal gambled on the review, Bashir's sheepish appeal and celebration said it all.