CHRIS WOAKES struck three times as Ollie Pope enjoyed a great start to life as England captain today, with Sri Lanka struggling to 178 for eight on day one of the first Test.
Woakes picked up a double-wicket maiden as the tourists slumped to six for three in a calamitous half-hour at the start of play and picked up another after lunch.
Gus Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir took two apiece and Mark Wood’s extreme pace brought him one as the bowlers handed Pope the ideal beginning to his temporary stint as England’s 82nd men’s skipper.
Eight years on from their last Test tour of these shores and coming off defeat to a youthful England Lions side in their only warm-up match, Sri Lanka were sorely exposed in unfamiliar conditions.
They finally found some resolve in the shape of skipper Dhananjaya De Silva, who batted boldly for 74, but remain squarely on the back foot.
The day started with an emotional tribute to the late Graham Thorpe, Joe Root appearing close to tears as players and fans remembered the classy left-hander with a minute’s applause.
There was also an honour for James Anderson at his home ground, with the recently retired record wicket-taker ringing the five-minute bell. Anderson would surely have loved the chance to work over a brittle batting line-up on his own patch but he could hardly have done much better than Atkinson and Woakes after Pope lost his first toss.
Atkinson got things going, finding kick and carry with a short ball to Dimuth Karunaratne. The experienced opener shaped to pull but was late on the shot and feathered a simple catch through to Jamie Smith.
With the new ball offering some early movement, Woakes reeled in Nishan Madushka with the first delivery of the seventh over, a lazy swipe at the outswinger ending up in Root’s safe hands at slip.
He closed the over with an even better scalp, foxing the seasoned Angelo Mathews with a big inswinger. Mathews, a regular thorn in England’s side over the years, misread it entirely and offered no stroke as he was plumb lbw.
After losing three wickets for no runs in the space of 10 balls, there was a brief rally at Matthew Potts’ expense but the arrival of Wood put England back in charge.
His first ball touched 95mph and left Dinesh Chandimal tumbling on his backside as he took evasive action and he soon had Kusal Mendis caught off the glove as he fended a short ball.
Sri Lanka’s misery was compounded by a slice of misfortune before lunch, Chandimal lbw to Bashir after the spinner got to skid through at ankle height.
De Silva’s willingness to fight carried Sri Lanka through an improved afternoon session. He hit eight fours and went after Bashir, who could have had him stumped on 65 had Smith taken it cleanly, but lacked support.
Kamindu Mendis became Woakes’s third victim when he was caught behind for 12 and Prabath Jayasuriya fell for 10 after an awkward debut innings that saw him rapped on the hand and caught off a no-ball.
The kicker came just before tea when De Silva’s counter-attack ended, turning Bashir round the corner to leg-slip where Dan Lawrence took a smart catch.
